In yester years the belief of having just one agency for all the marketing initiatives was the traditional and successful approach for any brand, it worked well at that time. The brands who did not comprehend this in time faded away as it is rightly said “adapt or die”.
With the changing world, marketers have realized that every brand needs more than one partner (agency) on board depending upon their area of expertise like CRM, Social, Main line, Print, Digital etc. and brands have grasped importance of core competencies of these agencies and hence producing best of the results by distributing their pie in right proportions.
Due to this paradigm shift, managers did not notice a fine line between digital and technology as different industry. Market needs forced digital agencies to possess technical expertise. Forgoing the simple fact that they are compromising on their core competency to be creative by shifting their focus to gain technical expertise rather than creative in digital space.
This sudden need of acquiring marketing as well as technical aptitude, has diluted agencies’ focus and their core competencies – it’s like two swords in one sheath. Sooner or later marketers will realize this and they will act on it by getting a technology partner for their technology needs.
Now, where do technology providers fit in this equation, as brands find it difficult to bring more partners on board as understanding a brand is an exercise in itself and comes after a good amount of work done on the brand. Brands’ marketing initiatives are thought and acted upon by agencies. Hence the best way a technology provider fits in is by partnering with agencies.
There are many other benefits of such relationship like technical and creative teams working together can co-create something new and reach new heights, brand understanding of an agency, their creativity and technology aptitude and agility at the same time.
My firm belief that this is a win-win situation for all the parties (brand, agency and technology partner) involved just grows when we witness the amazing results and wonderful work done for the brands through digital partners by IT industries.
