Every self-respecting ad exec has an opinion on integration, and with it, a dose of agency spiel. Some are political (‘The power of one’), some mathematical (‘360 degree’), others French (‘La holistic difference’). But all amount to the same old promise: we can reach consumers in many different ways, or all of them at once.
The problem is that around 10 years after the words ‘integrated marketing communications’ became popular industry jargon in Asia, clients complain that few agencies are capable of living up to that promise in a way that is useful in a world that has gone digital.
Not only that, but few ad folks can agree on what integration means, nor how it should best be put into practice.
This shows in the work, which is too often led by the creative agency, then copied by all the others. “Too many people think you should take a screenshot from a TV ad, then plaster it everywhere,” says Robert Campbell, regional creative brand planner at Y&R Brands. “They forget that it’s the idea that should be integrated, not the execution.”
Replication is seen as a nifty way of saving money, says Campbell, but one that smothers the value of long-term brand building ideas. Agencies are especially guilty of this in Asia, where budgets are tight and campaigns tactically-driven. But so too, grumble agencies, are clients, who are more worried about doing right by their boss, than right by the consumer.
The traditional integration model, the 360-degree approach to marketing - pioneered by Ogilvy in the mid-90s - is flawed, according to Campbell. “There’s no use blasting consumers at every touchpoint. You need to identify the core idea based on a consumer need, then ensure that message and medium are inherently linked.”
Critics say 360 can fall down where disciplines are run as different companies. Competing silos, they argue, sell their wares with their own coffers in mind, not the client’s best interests.
Euro RSCG’s specialist divisions - from healthcare to digital to PR - report into a single P&L, hence ‘the power of one’, explains George Gallate, CEO of Euro RSCG Asia-Pacific, India and the Middle East.
His agency has its admirers, as far as integration goes. But then the likes of Publicis and Publicis Dialog (with ‘La holistic difference’), Leo Burnett and Arc (‘Fusion’), and BBDO and Proximity (‘Total work’) have also made worthy strides to remove the financial barriers that keep them apart.
One major obstacle to integration is an agency’s size. How, sceptics wonder, can any large agency function as one entity when there are so many people scattered in countless divisions who barely know each other?
TBWA\Tequila Singapore has earned a reputation for integration not just on its merits but also because, as luck would have it, its two different brands are manageably evenly-sized. TBWA has 80 people, and Tequila, its direct arm, has 100. Meanwhile, at Grey, the agency only shares a bottom line with G2, its new DM brand, in markets where it is small.
Stephen Mangham, chairman of Ogilvy Singapore, one of the network’s largest Asia offices with 300 people, admits that uniting Ogilvy’s many factions (including the likes of Ogilvy Advertising, OgilvyOne, Ogilvy Active and Ogilvy PR) isn’t easy. “But size is not a factor,” he insists. “Integration is a mindset which relies on teamwork. It’s like a rugby team — a good team has players who fluidly form behind the man with the ball.”
Mangham adds that the agency’s ‘360 brand stewardship’ (the official name) is never a forced fit. “Every client needs 360 degree thinking, but not everyone needs to be sold everything we have,” he says.
He also stresses that there are no conflicting P&Ls. “We have measures to see how each part of the business is performing. But there’s only one P&L that matters: the country P&L. Besides, we are bonused on the performance of the group as a whole, so there’s no incentive to behave like silos.”
Of course, not all marketers are fans of fully-integrated agencies. Singapore Airlines awarded TBWA its creative business last month, but the airline will probably want it kept separate from its Krisflyer loyalty business with TBWA sibling Tequila. By contrast, Cathay Pacific prefers to hub its communications through McCann’s CX Central Team.
MasterCard is encouraging its agencies to work in a more integrated fashion by giving them more power. “In the past, we tried to play the role of integrators ourselves,” says group head of marketing for Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa, Natalie Lockwood.
“But six months ago, we changed our system. Rather than give out separate briefs for each discipline within McCann Worldgroup, we give out one to a team leader with a bird’s eye view across the business. This ensures that it isn’t always the ad agency that takes the lead.”
Consumer goods companies, especially in Asia, are the most integration-shy, tending to stay faithful to traditional means to reach the masses. But this is changing.
Dove’s ‘Campaign for real beauty’, which covers everything from traditional to digital channels, taking in social marketing and word-of-mouth along the way, is often held up as a glowing example of an integrated campaign for an FMCG brand.
So is Pepsi in China. The company says this year’s Chinese New Year campaign, which tapped into young people’s love of sending seasonal greetings, was one of its most successful ever on the mainland. “From the scripting of the online to emotional touch of the TV, it was beautifully integrated,” remembers Leo Tsoi, Pepsi China marketing director.
But, he admits, having to use 10 different agencies wasn’t ideal. “There just isn’t a single agency powerful enough in China to do everything. Only when the market matures, will more agencies be able to provide more than one service of the quality I need.”
While agencies gripe that their clients look like they’ve just left school nowadays, an emerging generation of young marketers who’ve grown up in a converging digital world no longer think in terms of above- or below-the-line.
“This is happening on the agency side too,” observes Chris Thomas, BBDO’s Asia-Pacific CEO, who has spent 20 years in advertising, three in direct marketing, and almost two overseeing both. “The problem is there isn’t enough talent to service this side of the business.”
Digital requires specialist knowledge, but practitioners need a sense of the traditional world too. “Convincing people not to see themselves as classical or non-classical takes time,” says Bhaskar Rao, regional director of DraftFCB, one agency recently formed from two.
“We have a lot of kids working on Motorola’s digital business, and I make sure that 20 per cent of their
time is spent on non-digital accounts.”
But not everybody can be a generalist, says Matthew Godfrey, COO of Publicis Asia-Pacific. “All agencies struggle with the same conundrum: finding good specialists who can also co-ordinate and co-operate with other disciplines.” A good model, he says, is Publicis London’s, where everyone sits together in brand hubs. “For this to work, you need large clients and that’s what we’re talking about doing here,” says Godfrey.
A popular alternative has been the hiring of one group person to oversee everything (see panel, right). In
theory these people are the arbiters of integration, ensuring different disciplines work in harmony.
But they too have their detractors. Kim Walker, president and CEO of M&C Saatchi Asia-Pacific, is one. “It’s tough finding a master of all trades, and they’re rarely in touch with day-to-day operations,” he says.
If there’s one thing all agree on, it’s that no one has found the perfect agency model. Most point to Crispin Porter + Bogusky, an ideas-centric, digitally-led shop from Miami, with an envious finger.
But one admirer suggests: “Asia’s is the most exciting market in the world. Wouldn’t it be great if we could produce a world-beating agency model to reflect the entrepreneurialism of our region — with digital at the centre and paid properly for its ideas — rather than copy everyone else’s?”
Five paths to integration
What’s the difference between a company that talks integration and one that truly delivers? Here are five approaches that demonstrate a genuine commitment to integration:
1 Single P&L Agencies structured as a collection of different companies can find one department fighting with another over budgets — with management ego clashes aplenty. “What gets them in the end,” says M&C Saatchi’s regional CEO Kim Walker, “are the politics of P&L.”
2 Group ‘integrator’ A multiple P&L set-up is not ideal. But agencies can compensate for silo structures by hiring an agency integrator to oversee all disciplines. This is tough, as few people in the market have worked in more than one area.
3 Mindset Agencies need to create a culture where all disciplines work as a team and are treated with equal respect. If digital people are still labelled ‘geeks’ and DM people ‘paper pushers’, all is not well.
4 Creatives on one floor If they’re not, how are they expected to grow an appreciation of other disciplines, and how will they learn to take an idea from one medium and bring it to life in another?
5 Brand hubs A popular trend, at least for large clients, is for people from different disciplines to sit together as one brand team.
