Marketing trends, like agency consolidation, are transforming the way the industry works, says Becky McKinlay, Managing Director of Marketing Comms Agency, Ambition Communications. Here, she outlays how the changes will affect mid-sized marketing agencies -- and their clients.

Where we are today: the latest marketing trends and the mid-sized marketing agency

As industry consolidation continues apace, the bigger marketing agency groups continue in their quest to dominate, increasing their reach across new territories and offering broader services and specialisations. Keen to satisfy their newly enlarged structures and resource levels, as well as impress shareholders and the City, they will concentrate on global clients and no doubt, service them extremely well. Those clients who require centralisation and economy of scale will continue to benefit from these new structures for the foreseeable future.

But along the way, some of the braver senior staff will choose to set up by themselves, heartened by the talk of economic uplift and determined to carve themselves out roles as marketing agency heads. As a small agency ourselves, we know that smaller, boutique agencies offer certain clients better value for money, client service and quite often creativity, than their larger counterparts. And those clients, who are brave enough to work with them, will be rewarded for their leap of faith by constant access to senior staff and strategic thinkers who show a hunger for their business that is not always apparent in the long established agencies.

So where does this leave the mid-sized marketing agency?

Mid-sized marketing agencies can reassure their individual clients that their independence means they provide truly impartial and best of breed solutions. Their longevity and resource levels bear testament to the fact that time after time they deliver effective campaigns and deserve to be a trusted agency partner.

But where the pressure is apparent is when procurement departments ask for evidence of their scalability or payment terms that their agency funding simply can’t (or shouldn’t) support. And for the younger generation of clients looking to shake up the industry and make their mark by working with one of the new breed of specialist agencies, their model and structure just might not feel innovative enough.

Their new business strategy needs to find a way of engaging with a mid-sized client. One whose marketing budget is significant enough to cover their necessary overheads but not one who is not beholden to a procurement department demanding to understand the intricacies of policies that bear no relation to delivery of marketing or advertising services and that only a multi-national business has the resources or needs to have in place. It’s a small pool to fish in.

Where do we go from here?

In my (agency and client) experience, the mid sized marketing agency can deliver it all. A motivating culture that ensures the professionals within deliver optimum service, irrespective of the client. A business with one profit and loss account, because as a client you know that you’re receiving impartial advice. And a size of business that means ‘integration’ doesn’t relate just to implementation but also to marketing strategy and thought.

But all of this comes with costs that need covering and that makes them more expensive than the new kid on the block. And with less cash reserves, they can’t make ‘investment payments’ to protect their place on global clients’ rosters. Their best survival route seems to lie in innovation – using their comparative size and experience to best advantage – innovating quickly where it’s necessary and persuading those mid-sized clients that it is indeed size that matters. Working with someone of your own size is most likely to reap dividends in the long run …