Blurring line between production, agencies in Asia

Production houses, as the name suggests, typically focus on the secondary stages of advertising development. And while the final rendering of a TV commercial or a website may be highly creative, the production house has rarely been the first port of call for a client looking for idea generation.

But that could be changing. The recent economic downturn, the ongoing ‘digital revolution’, and the realisation that no single discipline holds a monopoly on creativity, are increasingly prompting clients to look outside the accepted model.

Keith Weed, Unilever’s global CMO, is just one example of a marketer who, while aware of the value of agencies, is also quite willing to employ non-agency models.

Jon Wilkins, the Sydney-based founder of Naked Communications, says that while disintermediation of ad agencies by clients has been at play for some time in the US and Europe, it is now happening with greater frequency in this region, particularly in highly developed markets such as Australia and Japan. While it is not yet the norm, he says in some cases big clients are adopting the approach as a primary mode of operation. Particularly in Tokyo, he says, production companies are actively seeking “more flexible ways of working”.

Catch the full article in the upcoming May issue of Campaign Asia-Pacific.