Digital Media Buzz > Traditional Advertising Agencies Have Catching Up to Do In Digital Game

Traditional Advertising Agencies Have Catching Up to Do In Digital Game

By: adage.com

OK, I’ll admit it. As a digital agency, we aren’t always in complete control of our own destiny. You can’t really have an honest discussion about the future of the digital agency without also looking at the issues traditional shops are wrestling with. For better or worse, our fates are intertwined. That’s because a good portion of what we do depends on what traditional agencies do — or, more often — what they don’t do.
To oversimplify, the relationship between these two entities has generally gone something like this: The traditional agency defines the brand, while the digital agency brings it to life on the web. Depending on the client’s desires, the traditional agency’s involvement in digital work can range from basic strategic input to complete creative oversight — where the digital shop essentially acts as a production partner. However, as digital shops continue to make brands relevant in non-advertising-like spaces such as iPhone apps, Facebook and Twitter, this relationship has gotten messier as the traditional agency’s role in this work becomes more and more unclear……..[read entire article]