• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, January 14, 2014

You know how a brand hires a new CMO and two days later the brand is repositioned and an agency review is announced? Well, newly hired VP of Marketing for VW of America Vinay Shahani has promised he doesn't plan to change the brand's voice and only aims to "raise the bar" as it relates to how VW communicates in its marketing. He admires the work that Deutsch LA has done for the brand and doesn't have plans to change agencies. That said, we wager there will be an agency review inside of 8 months.

Ogilvy Cape Town is happy. The agency, in a survey conducted by the South African ad Web site MarkLives, was named Most Admired Ad Agency in the Cape Town ad community. And that's not all the agency is happy about. Like a dog marking its territory, the agency also is home to Cape Town's Most Admired Creative Director and Most Admired Agency Boss. The Web site invited the Cape Town ad community to nominate candidates for each category. Is it really any wonder Ogilvy cleaned up? Can you say ballot stuffing?

Attention marketers and agencies pimping soft drinks and junk food to Millennials: you had better get busy making and marketing "less bad" versions of your junk, according to recent research by Jeff Fromm, author of the book Marketing to Millennials: Reach the Largest and Most Influential Generation of Consumers Ever. The research finds 52% of Millennials say they support local food, 56% look for food with few ingredients and 41% buy organic whenever they can. These findings align with, for example, the sizable dent Annie's macaroni has carved out of Kraft Macaroni's stronghold in the segment and it’s why Coke is marketing "less bad" versions of its product with the introduction of Coca-Cola Life. Like a certain beer spokesman who says "stay thirsty my friends," we say, "think healthy, fellow marketers."

It's not like we needed yet another study to inform us that the current ad agency model is dead and that if agencies don't reinvent themselves, they will go the way of a 1998 dot-com. But yes -- we have yet another study telling us just that. This one comes from RSW/US, which asked respondents to paint a picture of what the ad agency landscape will look like in 2019. The results? It's not a surprise. Agencies must go digital or die. They will be data-driven. They will partner with technology companies that can offer specialty services the agency can't provide. While that happens today, the difference will be that these partnerships won't be behind the curtain and in place simply so that the agency can say, "yeah, we do that." They will be integral to the agency's offering and a partnership of equals.

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