GAWEN RUDDER ON INDIE AGENCIES: GOLIATH AND DAVID, ROBBER BARONS AND FOUNDER’S SYNDROME

In part three of his series on indie agencies, Gawen Rudder, principal of The Knowledge Consultancy, believes there seems to be absence of industry heads willing to raise their head above the bulwark and address tomorrow’s important industry issues.

Despite the ever-shifting sands, today’s landscape might be perfect for independent agencies right now. And here’s why …
The top-heavy holding companies are clearly struggling to re-shape their bigger-is-better model.
The even-bigger Amazon, now facing off against Facebook, and Google have entered the fray.
And the third player, the consultancies, have pitted themselves against just about everyone else.

The holding companies’ share prices are all down, year-on-year, however they do have the opportunity to reinvent themselves. But really, running a red pen through their agency line-up and embarking on a frenzy of internal mergers? It confuses clients and frustrates staff. Moves like this play into the hands of the indies. Tightened purse strings, clients looking for agility and adaptability, the need for fast turnaround – all work in their favour. Instead of thinking about client needs, the big networks pitch their full suite of services to marketers wary of putting all their eggs in one basket. Leakage of top creatives from holding companies is also good news for independents as they are better placed to collaborate and listen to client needs.

The emergent Goliaths: What about Facebook stealing briefs from all and sundry? Technology has the power to reach and personalise in new ways, but the expertise, creativity and insights of an agency is still valuable. This year at Cannes, Amazon et al made their presence felt, and Google walked away with metal for their ‘Creatability‘ spot.

The clever consultancies: In terms of personal relationships, independents are more likely to sit at the table with, say Mark’s Monkeys, than a holding company. There remains strong residual respect for their creative product, and that sort of admiration makes for better collaboration. The likes of Accenture and PwC are perfecting their data and analytics skills and mixing it with creativity. Where they are found wanting however is clients can get frustrated at the bureaucracy of a multi-layered international.

The trustworthy Davids: Holding companies are facing a trust issue, particularly in the media space. Lack of trust in larger organisations is driving clients to smaller independents. Creatively they can adapt themselves around client needs, they have smarter people who stay longer, get deeper inside client business and earn trust by solving problems they’re not necessarily retained to do. The shape of agencies is changing based on what the clients need, rather than what they want. And trust is at the very heart of that.

Founding an independent agency requires boundless optimism, passion, deep pockets, self-belief and yes, ego. With client teams getting leaner and budgets under scrutiny, the smarter CMOs choose to be close to the creative product and seek help in building their brands.

A couple of generations ago, independent agencies were private versions of the publicly-owned or holding company-owned agencies. Today, businesses differ by type, specialism and expertise. Increasing diversification means indies can compete for different clients on different briefs. There is a growing confidence in indie agencies from senior clients who no longer see any risk with smaller agencies. They see benefit to their business, more agility and freer access to top-level expertise. It comes down to confidence. Not just confidence to work with a smart agency, but about trusting them with their brands. Trust is the glue that binds enduring relationships between agency and client.

The rate of change in technology and consumer behaviour means those able to adapt and bring in new partners and skill sets, are those that will thrive in this new world. There is an agility within independent agencies, where they can respond faster to change in a way the big organisations cannot. This opens up more conversations between big brands and smaller agencies.

The Robber Barons of yesteryear: These men (and they were always men) suffered an unfortunate strain of the disease now identified as Founderitis. For all his success in taking his Fortune agency international, Ken Landell-Jones had it in spades; so did the feared Frank Grace, who ruled the roost at Jackson Wain until Leos moved in; and wily Labor sympathiser Sim Rubensohn at Hansen Rubensohn (later McCann) who changed the face of Australian politics with ‘It’s Time.’ In each case the agency was ‘their agency,’ their fiefdom and domain. They weren’t just admen, they were shrewd businessmen, well-connected to both politicians of the day and captains of industry. (No need to worry about marketing directors or pesky product managers – they didn’t exist in the 60s.)

Each, and many more like them, shared the symptoms of chronic Founderitis, defined by medicos as a psychological illness. The condition is characterised, but not restricted to, three common denominators: A sense of grandiosity – that the organisation is the founder’s and exists only to serve his ego. The second is an inability to delegate or stand aside and transition to new leadership. Last, but not least, a stubborn dedication to the original vision of the organisation.

Clad in his emporial new clothes, S4 chairman Sir Martin Sorrell recently disclosed he was suffering from Founder’s Syndrome. He took umbrage at being accused by investors of behaving like an owner. In a 2018 interview, Sorrell said, “I am an owner – I have nearly 2 per cent of WPP shares. If they said I’m acting like ‘the owner,’ then they might have a point.”

One wonders whether Sir Martin would classify himself as a ‘robber baron?’ Based upon his spirted defence of a mammoth salary and shares package, he might have repeated the undisputed fact that he was the longest-serving chief executive of a FTSE Top 100 company. He faced down a shareholder revolt in 2015 after receiving a whopping £70.4m remuneration package, reminding all and sundry, “If WPP do well, I do well.”

Where is the leadership? Truth is, here in Australia, or indeed elsewhere, we do not have an advertising/marketing/business person at the top of their game like Sorrell. Like him or not, he spoke his mind, didn’t shirk an interview and came across as a market leader.

Although Accenture took a leadership position in their takeaways from 2019 Cannes, there seems to be an absence of agency heads, marketing bosses or industry association chiefs willing to raise their head above the bulwark and address tomorrow’s important industry issues. Back in the day, Mo & Jo deferred to Singo to talk up the adgame, chairmen Robert and Mike would occasionally air broad issues and John Bevins reminded us of our ethical obligations. More recently Russel leveraged his position at the Comms Council and co-star of Gruen to bat for the business. Otherwise it seems those with something to say today do so anonymously, leave it to the academics, or adopt Lynton Crosby’s successful election strategy for Boris – “Say nothing and you’ll say nothing wrong.”