Key Takeaways

• Firms seek help from digital experience service providers.
• Experience Design, Content, And Platform Expertise Are Key Differentiators
• Accenture, SapientRazorfish, and Deloitte lead the pack.


The best digital experience service providers:

• Bring a brand to life through the experiences it delivers.
• Reframe a request for digital experiences into digital business transformation.
• Fulfill both the creative and technology needs of a digital experience program.
• Become strategic advisers and co-innovation partners that extend your team.

In the newly released report: “The Forrester Wave™: Search Marketing Agencies, Q1 2016”, Catalyst received the top scores possible for paid search, market research, media, and reporting and analytics.

In the report, Forrester cites Catalyst’s “leader-level organic visibility, paid search, and biddable media support.” The report states that it recommends Catalyst for operationally-minded marketers who want one partner to manage both SEO and paid search.

Unilever, one of the world’s largest marketers, is briefing startups on the tasks previously handled by the agencies it has axed in recent months as part of its ongoing efforts to limit agency and production fees.

The advertiser slashed its spend on agencies by 17 percent in the first half of 2017, while simultaneously making more moves to get closer to entrepreneurs. Over the last six months, it has launched co-working spaces in Singapore and Ireland where its marketers can sit beside up to 50 startups, with plans to erect more throughout the U.S., Europe and Asia. In these hubs, both Unilever’s marketers and startups work on live briefs, while the latter also have access to networking opportunities such as fireside chats and mentoring programs.

By cozying up to startups in these spaces, Unilever plans to give startups like user-generated-content platform Vidsy and influencer marketing technology Mavrck more of its marketing budget. Startups are already taking on more of tasks such as customer research, content production and social listening, which Unilever’s defunct agencies once handled, according to Aline Santos, evp of global marketing. It’s left some of Unilever’s traditional agencies in a precarious position at a time when Santos and her team are cutting half of the 3,000 agencies they use around the world and are making 30 percent fewer ads.

For the purpose of this blog, I decided to look at three different software categories on G2 Crowd’s website: applicant tracking system (ATS), social advertising and accounting software. These categories were selected completely at random. I will take a look at the price, return on investment (ROI), user adoption and go-live time with these software tools, comparing an in-house team versus third-party consultants and vendor services teams.

Implementation service providers assist with software installation, setup, training and support, enabling businesses to get the most out of their software. Consultants work closely with the the business to understand their software needs; they then plan the implementation, set goals and train employees. Implementation services can be performed virtually or in person. Keep in mind that implementation service providers do not sell software, but rather they offer implementation, support and training services.

Choosing the right software is as important as choosing the right VAR, and many companies choose the software and VAR at the same time. Customers should consider purchasing software from a VAR if they need specific features within individual software products. VARs helps companies optimize their resources by adding value to software. Beyond offering software solutions, VARs often offer implementation services and support.

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"In our most recent survey of digital enterprise leadership worldwide, the vast majority of executives say consulting partners are not just important but critical to digital transformation success. In addition, over 26% of digital executives say budgets for digital consulting and agency services partners will rise 10–25% in over the next 12–24 months, and an additional 12% say budgets will grow over 25%, and 9% expect to see growth of over 50%. As digitization alters the nature of business, competition, supply, and servicing operations, a growing number of organizations of all sizes and maturities will expand their use of digital strategy and agency services to create and/or maintain brand, product, and operational advantage. As more firms adopt digital strategies, executives should expect their relationships with professional services providers to embody a larger digital services capability." — Michael Versace, research director, Digital Strategy Consulting research

Pitches for sophisticated solutions that bolstered more than individual campaigns fell on deaf ears because agencies were incentivized to put on blinders and hit their metrics, arbitrary as they may be. Employees of ad agencies are also easily swayed by the influence of Google and Facebook despite the continued public fumbles with measurement and metrics. Agencies became convinced that the metrics Google and Facebook are known for were the only ambitions that mattered. That was the direct result of the sheer power of Facebook and Google’s charm offensives (read: expense account) against agency employees, and it worked

However, it’s hard to believe the employees of Accenture and their peers will be so moved by these same tactics. Consultancies are famous for seeing around the corner, and their advocacy for brands will likely have an entirely different flavor. They won’t be so driven by dogmatic thinking and the goalposts of “viewable”, etc. will likely change.

What does this mean for mar-tech and ad-tech platforms? We may see a reversal of fortunes. Those who succeeded in a world of ad agencies were built for a system of selling short-term gains. In an era dominated by the business outcomes and metrics-infused culture of consultancies, the ad-tech and mar-tech platforms that are likely to succeed are more likely to support a brand’s core business (developing lifetime customers and owning the relationship with them) than a short-term sales cycle (using up the budget).

• Pivotal Research analyst Brian Wieser reviewed the full-year 2016 results for WPP, Omnicom, Interpublic Publicis and Havas, then averaged the findings to treat the five largest agency conglomerates as an isolated group. In the process, Wieser learned that the group saw an average 3% organic revenue growth globally with just 1.5% growth in North America, according to a MediaPost report. 
• ​Pivotal, in its analysis, points to the emergence of a new category of marketers who simply don't use agencies, but instead prefer to work directly with Google, Facebook and others, which Pivotal believes is the biggest factor in revenue not meeting expectations for agency conglomerates. This category includes small businesses, but larger brands are also looking for ways to bring in-house at least some tasks previously handled by agencies.

All three options exist and remain valid options because no option is strictly better than either of the others. It all depends on what your goals are, how your business operates, what you’re willing to spend, and how you’d prefer to interact. In many cases, striking a balance between multiple methods (such as having both in-house workers and freelancers) is the best approach, but you may find that one method stands out more than the others for your business.

Companies that succeed in the post-digital era marry digital engagement, traditional marketing, data, and technology to create superior, customer-centric brand experiences. For marketers, this means staying ahead of changing consumer behavior and organizing your team to meet the needs of today’s empowered customer.

As marketers’ rise to this challenge, they look to lead agencies  to drive brand, creative, and experience strategy, along with campaign development across traditional and digital touchpoints. They also look for productive collaboration across diverse agency rosters and a commitment to attracting and retaining post-digital thinkers.  

1. All Marketing and Advertising Projects are Custom
2. Capital Expense, or Operating Expense?
Every business will account for marketing services differently, but the ideal scenario is to build a strategic partnership with an agency and fold that cost into your operating budget.

3. The Superiority of the Benchmark Rate Model
Benchmark rate model: Based on current data about the average costs of marketing campaigns and projects.

4. Keep a Close Eye on ROI
5. Look for Guarantees, but Be Flexible

Services firms and marketing agencies can take these three steps to prevent revenue loss while preserving a service-driven culture:

• Make it a daily habit. Employees must understand why correct, timely, and detailed data entry is important and how it can work to overcome even the simplest problems within firms. Research reveals that firms entering work hours at the end of the month suffer more revenue loss than those that do daily or weekly. 
• Consider the Cloud. Businesses should consider managing time and data entry via a Cloud-based solution. With the ability to log data on the go, employees will do so more accurately, potentially saving hours worth of time.
• Streamline processes. Once an agency has determined the best solution for its business needs, it needs to streamline all processes, including sending out daily, weekly, or monthly reminders to employees to ensure time sheets are complete, along with any project management and reporting tasks and expenses.