What I’m most conscious about when writing this space, is not to make it a bashing of Italy. No matter how aware and frustrated by the shortcomings of our country I can be, I don’t believe other places I lived in were necessarily better. This is why I’m constantly thinking – and rarely succeeding – of ways to return something of what I’ve experienced outside to the Italian creative community. in the end, that’s where this space came from, thanks to Monica and Cecilia.
This month’s thoughts were hijacked by a piece written by my friend Anna Uslenghi on how consultancies are threatening the advertising industry. Mostly, because I don’t agree. Consultancies are doing what agencies groups did thirty years ago: they acquire. Acquisition brings growth but what long-term value does it provide?
We saw first hand how clunky the integration of digital was in agencies: it was added as a necessary part of the offer but a secondary – at best – stream of revenues while the big money was coming elsewhere. Introducing a service just to retain a chunk of business is not necessarily a successful business strategy per se.
On the other hand, consultancies entering the digital game offer a massive opportunity to rethink the agency approach: how can the model be innovated by dropping low revenues, resources-churning tasks like programmatic, community management and website building (do we still build websites?) to companies who have troops of people and can absorb huge hourly costs into massive business analysis and transformation project fees?
This brings me to the Italy vs. outside perspective which is the point of this space. In Italy we’re not lucky: we don’t have a government who invests enormous amounts of money to foster innovation and keep the nation relevant, as Singapore does. We’re not lucky, but we’re not really good at leveraging our strengths: agencies have been pretty bad at making their collective voice heard, as Fabrizio Russo said a few weeks ago.
The ACDI has done a lot in trying to move the category forward, from tackling social topics like women’s objectification to creating cultural moments that go beyond the advertising label (IF! seems like a great initiative, from what I read). But there’s also a need for something that might drive business growth.
Talking with a few friends, I found out only one accelerator program (H-Farm) with connections to an agency, while outside Italy there are many examples: DDB is doing it well in Singapore (but again, with the government as a facilitator) and has been doing it in Canada for a while, and even in Tanzania, a local agency is doing it. So why – sincere question, not being on the ground – little seems to be happening in Italy? Is it just not visible? In either case, it’s a missed opportunity.
The R/GA example is clear: while the Accelerator created connections and competences in the IOT space, the company re-designed its office: the PR downfall created business opportunities with architecture firms and other tech companies. Having seen first hand the R/GA model, I really do believe there are some interesting opportunities out there.
This does not mean starting an accelerator from scratch: partnering with one of the many existing out there could be an easier solution. Or maybe it’s a category thing: what about an investment-based program where young talent* in the agency world supports talent in the startup world?** Maybe it’s something else. Regardless, it’s about what Fabrizio said: creating partnership, creating a collective presence beyond our industry, creating a critical mass of creative thinking.
As an industry we’re fantastic at looking inwards and worrying about things that might turn out as not so important: three years ago it was big data and a bright future of surgically precise targeting we are still waiting for (thanks to Facebook and YouTube screwing up their metrics). Two years ago it was AI and a dark future of unemployment (while unemployment was structurally created by very non-tech agents like shitty political choices). This year seems to be consultancies and related uncertainty. Paranoia is healthy (says the one who’s not on Facebook and covers his laptop camera) but it may make us lose sight of something interesting. I do believe Italy has amazing creative resources, at least as good as any other country I’ve worked in. As Fabrizio, I think it just needs some kind of catalyst to bring it to critical mass. A role that would be perfect for the agency world.
Luca
- (maybe with the ADCI facilitating?)
** (I would personally love this and if someone is willing to try, please, drop me an email: happy to contribute remotely any way I can)
One small thing: last month a friend, Nicola Rovetta, asked me a question I could not reply to because I’m not on Facebook. If you need to reach out – whether to ask, comment, or disagree – you can find me on Twitter, LinkedIn or email me at iamlucavergano@gmail.com. Cheers.
