• by Jon Bond , November 25, 2013

Expect another year of dramatic change and not for the better for much maligned agencies. 

1. WPP will buy IPG and once again Sir Martin can say mine is bigger than yours.

2. Programmatic buying direct to clients will start to take significant revenue chunks out of agency coffers.

3. The Publicom merger will result in mass firings, but not in the expected financial gains because client procurement officers waiting quietly in the wings licking their chops will negotiate to take those increased efficiencies for themselves.

4. Media brands will become the new hot agencies, as those best at native advertising talents will transform themselves into "hot" boutique content factories that live inside media companies.

5. Blogger networks will become more structured and larger and become the hot new narrow-targeted media options, replacing the role of magazines in the media ecosystem.

6. TV will enter a new golden age as technology makes it possible to manage TV the way online is currently handled--the best of both worlds.

7. Media agencies will start to take on the complete client AOR role, leaving a mad scramble among agencies, media companies, and whoever can create to supply all the content. 

8. Data will increasingly be handled by “objective” third parties versus agencies. 

9. The last analog department in agencies, music, will be brought into the digital age. 

10. Newly public DSP's will acquire complimentary resources, enabling them to pitch for major client assignments head-to-head against agencies. 

It will be a Happy New Year for the disintermediators of agencies, not so much for the agencies themselves.