Agenturen müssen sich in diesem schnell verändernden Markt frei machen von festen Agentur-Strukturen und ohne Limitierungen schnell neue Richtungen einschlagen können. Darüber und über die Erlebbarkeit von Marken hat Oliver Klein im Rahmen des Worldwide Summit des AdForums 2018 im cherrytalk mit Krishnan Menon (CEO, re.), Jason de Turris (CSO, 2.v.re.) und Chris Adams (CCO, li.) von phenomenon gesprochen.

Oliver Klein: „How do you estimate the future of communication agencies within the next 3 years?“
Krishnan Menon: „When we look at the next three years I see the same picture developing that I anticipated 12 years ago at the inception of Phenomenon. While many behemoth clients work with behemoth agencies to drive share of voice I think they will continue to lose share of time with consumers. The brands that consumers spend time with always outperform the brands that try to simply shout. We built Phenomenon as a business transformation company not a communications company. In the next few years I think smaller shops will increasingly embrace new platforms that treat marketing as the brand not just the message of the brand. Actions speak louder than ads. When we worked with Wilson Athletics to deepen their relationship with avid athletes across the world we knew we’d need to innovate the connection between the brand and its users. So, we collectively built Wilson Labs to deliver on the passion of performance. In launching the world’s first connected basketball we were taking an action that we then advertised. I hope to see more companies pushing further up the value chain with their clients to make things that aren’t just ads but truly experiential and powerful drivers of businesses. For our fintech client Intuit we are developing their role in the self-employed marketplace. Our creative work there is laying the groundwork for a tangible vision. Intuit is ready to leverage their powerful financial tools to give the power of Fortune 500 companies to the individual self-employed, small business and side-gigger economy. This is the fastest growing sector of the global economy. While their collective potential is vast their lack of business tools, knowledge or experience make them more vulnerable. Our marketing is designed to elevate that audience and power their prosperity. For us the future of advertising must shift into more meaningful investments that improve the lives of consumers.“

Oliver Klein: „What are the most important trends and developments which clients and agencies have to face?“
Jason De Turris: „We do a lot of work to define market potential. And the most exciting innovations are the ways we can now leverage partnerships like the one we have IBM Watson to understand personality traits, true behaviours and connection strategies to consumer segments. This is resetting the industry and how it needs to understand consumers and connect with them.“

Oliver Klein: „Which impact will this have for agencies and their working model? Do they have to change, adapt, re-think the working models? What is phenomenon doing different?“
Jason De Turris: „Phenomenon is doing everything it can to chart the unknown for our clients. This means making sense of the rapidly evolving market and driving our clients to take smarter leaps. We have a saying in the firm which is “the best strategy is the best idea.” This means that a new technology, media platform or insight will emerge and lean the entire solution into a new direction. So, the model of agency can’t be based on a legacy system of silos or production line creativity. It’s got to be built to collide all these ingredients with a team nimble enough to go hard into a new direction. The more reliant we are on agency structure and it’s limits versus the thinking and it’s limitless power the better the result.“

Oliver Klein: „As phenomenon you are located around the world and do a great performance. With just one office you are working in 100 countries. How do you manage this and why is this a better model than the networks?“
Krishnan Menon: „The outdated notion that you need multiple offices around the world to work globally is a myth that’s been perpetuated by ego and tradition. It definitely helps to have local points of view, support, staff and partners, but every time you try to transfer your agency’s magic to another location, you run the danger of not being able to re-create the culture that made you unique. Our workforce consists of global citizens that come from all over the world, who have worked in all sorts of cultures, and who understand how to develop, launch and grow brands in multiple markets. We use on-demand local talent to help support this central brain, set up pop-up workspaces to help get things executed, and by doing so, are nimble, efficient and effective.“