The prolific rise of digital – and programmatic technology in particular – has disrupted the traditional role of the media agency, ZenithOptimedia’s CEO has said.
Speaking at Dmexco 2015 on Wednesday, Steve King said that the acceleration of programmatic over the last five years has changed the role of the media agencies “for the better” when it comes to collaborating with clients.
“When we started it about 25 years ago it was a very linear relationship where we had the content, the execution, and at the end of the food chain the media vendor – and that relationship has changed quite dramatically,” King said.
“The good news – and particularly as we can see the opportunity for programmatic and addressable communication – is that the role of the media agency is very much changing for the better, as we deepen our relationships with clients and with media vendors.”
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With 45% of display advertising traded programmatically in 2014, forecast to rise to 80% by 2018, King said that media agencies are now able to offer “very different” strategies for clients compared with just a decade ago – “all of which can be measured”, while enabling “richer and more engaging connections” with consumers.
However, according to King, a lot of clients’ businesses face redundancy within the next five years if they don’t adapt to a fast-moving media landscape which is increasingly “disrupting the traditional consumer journey”.
“Every single one of our clients is going through a transformation – and some of those clients know that their business is going to be effectively out of business in five years,” he said.
“The whole industry is going through such an incredible, but tough, transformation.”
