At last, a media network with a difference

We should think of Blue 449 and its ‘open source’ approach as a new model for agency networks, writes Dominic Mills. And if it works, other Publicis agencies could follow suit…

Just back from a few weeks away, I’m a little surprised by the somewhat muted welcome given 10 days ago to that all-too-rare creature of the advertising world: a new media network.

Adland typically fawns over new creative, content or social agencies. Yet they seem to launch, comparatively speaking, every other day.

By contrast, new media agencies are hardly ever seen, while the launch of a new media network, fully-fledged from the start, is as infrequent as a full eclipse. The last that comes to mind is Maxus, back in 2008.

So why the lack of fanfare around Blue 449, progeny of Phil Georgiadis’s Walker Media in the UK and, so far as I can see, from elsewhere a few scattered bits of ZenithOptimedia? It will operate from 17 countries as an independent network, but under the Zenith umbrella.

Perhaps it’s the name, the logic of which isn’t immediately apparent. But it has a certain memorability, and it’s different. How we laughed when the likes of Vizeum (anybody remember the ‘Wizards of Wank’ tag?) or Mediavest proudly thrust themselves into the limelight. In a year or so though, Blue 449 won’t even generate a snigger.

Nevertheless, I would like to be a fly on the wall the first time Phil Georgiadis explains the name to a client: “Well, you see, it’s the point on the colour wavelength where Zenith’s corporate colour meets Walker’s…”

Client: “Er, right….[long pause]…o..k..a..y. Now about that cheap media…”

But I think it’s more to do with the fact that the chatterati are struggling to get their head around Blue 449’s modus operandi, the so-called ‘Open Source’ mantra, which is all about flexibility and collaboration.

I’ll come back to this later. But first, we need to rewind the clock. Negotiations between Zenith and Georgiadis first started (on a ski slope, naturally) in March 2013, and then were put on hold during the on-off farce of the Publicis/Omnicom merger.

At this point, you can imagine everyone in Zenith/Publicis going: “What do we need to buy another media agency or network for? We’ll have at least, er, five…”.

Strictly speaking, they didn’t…except that what everyone did need was another type of media agency; one that operated in as radically different way as possible.

Buying Walker, even if the deal was not completed till November that year, was a way to start that process.

Ironically, as it was first explained to me by Zenith insiders, Blue 449 was originally seen as a conflict agency for its parent.

Ha! They wish. Dealing with hordes of conflicting clients doesn’t exactly seem to be the main issue for Zenith at the moment.

Better instead to think of Blue 449 as a new-model agency network – media agency 2.0 if you like – with different structures and ways of doing things. If it works, then – who knows – it might become the prototype for other Publicis agencies to change.

We certainly need this: everyone knows the current model is not what it should be – messy, sclerotic and bureaucratic. And that’s before you even get to the money side of things – as dirty linen currently being washed in Australia and the US testifies.

So, if you’re going to launch a media network, there’s absolutely no point unless you do things differently. As Phil Georgiadis says: “The world does not need another media agency network per se…but what it does need are organisations that behave differently to reflect the needs of the clients and the dynamics of the media markets. You need a clean sheet of paper.”

Exactly so, and Blue 449 is the closest you can get to a clean sheet, while at the same time starting with a decent enough spread of clients to underpin the network.

So what then is this Open Source philosophy that will underpin Bue 449? As I understand it, it’s about being lean, fast, flexible and collaborative inside and outside. It’s the last bit that really interests me.

In traditional agency land, the borders of the agency are tightly defined: the people, the thinking, the ideas, the technology and so on are sourced from inside. It’s like a closed eco-system. It has its strengths, but it can also lead to silos, in-breeding, bureaucracy, stale thinking, anally-retentive behaviour. In the end, the arteries clog up.

But the world has moved on. We now live in a collaborative economy, and no organisation can survive, least of all agencies, without opening themselves up in a deliberate, mindful way to the outside – whether that’s planners, content producers or ad-tech developers.

By opening themselves up to the outside, they can access the best ideas, fresh thinking and outstanding talent. It’s easy, inside the comfort zone of a big agency, to think you have the best talent. In fact, there’s a lot of outstanding talent outside; talent that doesn’t want to be shackled by corporate life and likes to move (and is the better for doing so) from project to project.

Cynics will say Blue 449’s Open Source mantra is a just a way to keep the overhead down. We know from the way media agencies seek to make money from, er, the grey areas, that they have increasingly become slaves to an overhead they can’t charge for.

But I also think Blue 449’s approach points a way to the future. Of course, its modus operandi won’t suit every client (or every possible employee). There will be many who prefer the comfort of an entrenched behemoth, underpinned by labyrinthine processes and bureaucracy, with an office in every city and a headcount to match.

But there are also those clients who want something different: something fast, flexible, adaptive, collaborative and open-minded.

They will be multinational, but they are likely to be entrepreneurial, flexible and nimble, private or family-owned, with business models that are based on, or have adapted to, the new digital economy. They may even be ‘Open Source’ themselves, even if they don’t describe it that way.

Indeed, you can see this in some of Blue 449’s founder clients: Weetabix, Dixons Carphone, KFC and Mandarin Oriental.

We shall see how it works. The test will come in getting onto the right pitch lists and winning business that will allow Georgiadis and his henchpeople to keep the culture intact.

And if it does work, we can expect to see Blue 449’s sister agencies following suit – perhaps even Zenith itself.