Feature | Brands embrace multiple agency syndrome & prefer young agencies

Brands have always wanted the best possible creative solutions for their branding processes. To achieve this, they leave no stone unturned. So what has been noticed lately is that clients have shown keen interest on upcoming agencies rather than the established ones. Also lately, we have seen more than one creative agency being roped in for optimum results. Today more than quantity, the focus is on quality of work. Even if it means, fragmenting creative agencies for different brands under one banner for a better focused attention, today brands are more than willing to do that. It's no longer about the budgets and competition, but purely on how effectively an agency can bring a brand alive.

Earlier this year the industry saw giant brands like PepsiCo assigning its creative duties for its crucial campaigns to a young agency like Taproot, not taking into account its long standing relationship with JWT. Other big brands soon followed suit and have embraced this multiple agency trend that has been fast catching up. Adgully further explores this emerging trend in the industry, naming it the multiple agency syndrome and discovers the advantages an upcoming agency has over an established one.

Commenting on the same, Kartik Mani, Founder, Merry Men said, "The biggest advantage is that newer agencies are hungry to prove themselves and so however small the project they will give it everything. Also the same agency handling the account for ages leads to boredom and over familiarity with the brand. When you bring in a new and hungry creative agency they can add a much needed dose of freshness to the brand."

Manish Bhatt, Founder Director, Scarecrow Communications feels sometimes the activities of clients get lost in the maze of a large agency. Clients being emotional about these things tend to then look for options outside their current agency. This is when they sometimes add a new agency or move the business. Also many a times, when brands require a fresh perspective, they hire a young agency.

Further adding on to this, Bhatt said, "As far as large agencies are concerned, sometimes there is a lack in inertia at the agencies end. Large agencies do not empower the second in line. Usually brands want the responses or over seeing from senior officials from advertising agencies. However the top line management is always tied up with something or other. Therefore if the second in line is empowered they could easily hold the fort. However large agencies seldom believe in this."

Upcoming agencies with its vibrant young team definitely offer a lot more on the table when it comes to bringing out innovative original ideas. Also it should be understood that these upcoming agencies are founded by advertising professionals who have been in the industry for many years. So the experience that comes along is enormous and adds a lot of value.

Bhatt further adds that sometimes upcoming agencies put out larger resources for brands when compared to established agencies. Also he adds on that in young agencies one person is solely responsible for business as well as creative outputs, so commitments are met on time.

Subhrangshu Neogi, Director, Brand and Corporate Communications, Religare talking about this emerging trend commented, "The agencies in question are definitely small but definitely adept at handling the needs of the client because of their years of experience with diverse set of clients. The bigger agencies are sometimes bound by procedural bindings on the question of working with two agencies. It depends on brands requirement whether its fits into the strategy to go in for two agencies."

Neogi further commented that different agencies will fill in different need gaps and different ideas are brought to the table.

Mani further stated that his agency is always willing to collaborate with other agencies. He further said, "These are exciting times for smaller, independent creative shops like ourselves because brand custodians are willing to look beyond large agencies and big creative names. They've realized that smaller creative agencies are not necessarily unreliable and that they can deliver an equally good creative product if not better."

Young agencies do have a lot to offer and it looks like more and more brands would want agencies to collaborate and work together to create and collate ground breaking ideas to reach the best solutions possible. | By Janees Antoo [janees(at)adgully.com]