McCann’s new CEO Ben Lilley: the traditional agency model is dead

Finally, a CEO who gets it. Good on you Ben and best of luck in your transformation efforts. The traditional model is not sustainable and those who persist with are merely in the ‘milking’ phase of their lives – extracting every bit of value from the model – before its ultimate and inevitable demise!

Welcome in the modern creative triumvirate: an art director, a copywriter, and a creative technologist — images, words, and code. And not just in some disconnected pipeline. These will be the new collaborative unit, with the technologists at the table from the beginning, brainstorming original creative concepts.

Can’t wait to see how McCann evolves. On paper, this sounds very promising. Best of luck, Ben.

Bold move, much to be admired

Sorry, but what’s happened here is that six weeks before Christmas these guys have sacked a bunch of hardworking people.

I guess that happens in business.

But then they have the gall and arrogance to publicly write them off as useless middle managers who have no future. Why is that necessary?

[edited by Mumbrella].

With the number of people declaring so many things dead, I question whether marketers and advertisers will end this world before climate change does?

Hear, hear Patrick and Cameron!

Ben,

Does this mean you place no value at all in senior managers?

The industry’s pre-occupation with a youthful workforce being the only workforce of value is becoming sickening.

McCann’s has a great list of clients whose customers are far more diverse than the youth focus that has been Smart’s focus for so long and becomes a bit cliched, tiresome and limited for clients who are looking for diversity of input & experience from their agency.

With this renewed focuson relatively junior employees being the only ones of value, what is the proposed use by date of current employees. Should they feel nervous at 35….are they over the hill at 40.

Sounds like a blatent case of age discrimination wrapped up in the smoke and mirrors and puffery of having to present a new and improved agency. But that’s OK, the industry not only tolerates this but actively encourages and applauds it!

I’m amazed that “direct contact for clients with the people actually working on their business” and “leaner and faster operating structure” are considered bold and transformational. No wonder the traditional shops are leaking clients and revenue like never before.

It’s about time someone calls a spade a spade! Thanks. Less is more – I have recommended (and sold) that for years.

Didn’t Chris Mort make a grand announcement 18 months ago about transformational change at McCanns ushering in a brand new, fully functioning digital system as a platform for the whole agency’s operations? With a creative digital guru new hire in charge? A new streamlined McCanns with powerful creative, leaner, faster, further. 18 months back?

Is Ben’s phase the sequel, just with less old guys around?

If the tax office audits you, do you ask for the youngest tax accountant you can find to handle your case?

If you are in an emergency room with a senior doctor trying to save your life, do you defer to the young intern?

If you find your house has a major structural problem that needs fixing, do you brush aside an experienced builder in favour of his apprentice?

Each of these workplaces have a range of age and experience and each of them have value. McCann’s now believe that it is Smarter to offer clients less as apparently great campaigns are only created by apprentices…for apprentices!

Amazed: Christmas is only a tool invented by senior advertising members to help sell people shit they don’t need, stick to the point.

To me it seems like if a few people stale members stayed around, a brilliant company would be in dire straights.

Good luck Ben
cant wait to see what happens next.

Don’t let the creatives too close to the client – it will cost you business.

Seriously, we just want an effective ad/solution/whatever – not interested in creative as art, or hearing about the writer;’s latest short film etc.

You need people who can manage clients and being honest most creatives can’t with few notable exceptions.

Your client needs to have trust in their agency and I can tell you with all the 25 year old Account Directors (!) out there, it’s kind of hard, (especially when they are gorgeous as hell in a short skirt – nice for the client to perve on, but doesn’t give us confidence in the agency)

Also, too many agencies are run for the benefit of their creatives it seems to me, rather than to create the best solution for the client, as the creatives tend to always want to go for the ‘edgy’ idea that will get their peers to write nice stuff in the comments section of Campaign Brief, rather than a less ‘wow’ idea, but one that will work more effectively.

Keeping clients is hard, because a lot of agencies concentrate on new business and neglect existing clients or lie about the number of people working on the account, telling us there’s more, but actually having these poor exhausted people worked to the bone and selilng them at more than 100%.

And I hate that wank phrase used “disrupt our team” – your readers aren’t idiots, they know it means fired some people and that if you will slag off the people who left, that you won’t have much loyaltly to the existing staff either.

As a client its my relationship with my GAD and the creative work are equally important.

Lots of agencies can do great creative, but finding a good suit is bloody hard. If my GAD changes agencies, more than likely I would follow to his new agency.

And my GAD is either late 30’s or 40’s – which is older than me, but I trust their experience.

And hopefully these cost-savings produced by streamlining and restructuring will be passed on to the clients. Nope? Didn’t think so.

I agree with many points made by “client” above. I want to be confident my account is well-managed, organised, the GAD / AM care about my business and that the work produced isn’t being rushed at the end. The creatives are the heartbeat of many agencies, but if we (as the client) have engaged you, we think your creative will be good already, now we want the dirty stuff to happen well – great project management etc..

Worth noting the “new model” structure. Creative Director dealing with clients? I’ve seen Mad Men, not all aspects of this model are new….