Over the past week, there have been two interesting posts on AdAge on the question whether digital agencies are yet ready to lead the planning and development of advertising.

The first one by Ana Andjelic offers some good views and a provocative starting point to the discussion. But  it also does more than its fair share of stereotyping things and jumps into rather quick conclusions. The second post, Jacques-Herve Roubert’s response to Ana, manages to offer a more considerate, balanced view on things, and rightfully notes that “the balance may not be there today, tomorrow or next month.”

But instead of trying to find the answers to these questions in what clients and agencies do and don’t do in their processes (while those are all important), why don’t we concentrate more on finding the answers in what consumers are doing? Ultimately, they are our client, the ones who need to buy into our advertising more than the clients and brands we design the advertising for. In the ways they consume media, connect online, play games, interact, buy and use services and products, more and more people are quickly getting way ahead of what agencies and their clients are doing to catch their attention. They have already made their choice on digital, and our technological development has given them the tools.

I don’t think the original question, whether digital agencies are ready to lead, has a simple answer, yes or no. And before getting to that question, I would also like to, perhaps more importantly, ask whether clients are willing to let digital lead (or just willing to think of all advertising channels, digital and analog, together, without dividing them in the middle).

Karri Ojanen