• by March 3, 2006

ORLANDO -- The current buzz about re-bundling media agencies back into traditional agencies so that planners and buyers can work more closely with the creative department is unrealistic and unnecessary.

At the same time, however, media people need to collaborate closely with all agency departments in order to find the best possible solutions to the wide variety of marketing problems posed by clients.

That appeared to be the general consensus Thursday during a panel discussion at the 4As' Media Conference and Trade Show that included the heads of the "Big Six" media agencies in America.

"There's been a lot of talk recently, and I'm a little confused by it," said Charlie Rutman of MPG North America, a unit of Havas. "People who create messages need to collaborate. But what I'm hearing is more about control and proximity. I'm confused as to why collaboration is being superceded by control and proximity."

He also said the notion that creative executives were only concerned with creating expensive, 30-second television spots was totally erroneous, and that creatives at his agency routinely develop advertising solutions for all media.

Jack Klues of Publicis Groupe Media agreed and also stressed the importance of collaboration among disciplines. "None of us have ever said that the medium and the message didn't need to be connected," Klues said. "But the notion that the answer is a full- service model agency of the 1980s just doesn't make sense. The business has changed too much, and the conversation about re-bundling doesn't make sense to me."

David Verklin of Carat Americas argued that media services were never unbundled in the first place. "Media has been consolidated," he said. "Creative has been unbundled."

Instead of turning back the clock, Verklin suggested a new paradigm in which the media agency and traditional agencies would combine in a new branding strategy.

"What about the idea of a 'powered by' vision," Verklin said. Something like 'Ogilvy Powered by MindShare' or 'Leo Burnett Powered by Starcom.' Those would be powerful brands."

The debate gained steam recently when a handful of clients shifted media buying and planning responsibilities from media agencies to the media departments of the agencies that were handling the creative portion of their accounts.

As a result, some agencies have taken steps to make sure they are prepared to handle similar moves. For example, Ogilvy & Mather is establishing a new media planning unit to explore emerging advertising venues, and Arnold Worldwide recently hired a media planning executive.

Panel participants also included Irwin Gottlieb of WPP Group's Group M, Mark Rosenthal of Interpublic Media, and Joe Uva of Omnicom's OMD.