Advertising agencies with traditional operating structures are yesterday’s heroes in today’s digital world. 

I should know. I built a career in the world of medium-to-big shops. We held the keys to mainstream media channels, award-winning creative teams, and sprawling networks. We were the go-to experts for everything: brand strategy, fifth floor. TV creative, third floor. Envelopes, seventh floor. That one-stop shopping – and the glamour – was part of every pitch.

But those keys no longer unlock the doors clients need opened.

Today, a savvy marketer can run sophisticated, effective, targeted ad campaigns on platforms like Google Ads, Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok. No posh agency digs or layers of account managers required. Thanks to intuitive, user-friendly tools and real-time analytics, businesses can navigate digital advertising waters just fine without drowning in agency fees.

I’m not breaking news by saying consumer behaviour has shifted dramatically, fragmenting audiences into specialized niches that crave tailored content rather than generic “pay-spray-and-pray” messaging. Long gone are the days when a TV spot or print ad could carry a campaign. Touting “special relationships” with Facebook or Google no longer sounds impressive. Agencies now stumble over their own bureaucracy, missing fleeting digital opportunities because they’re too busy “aligning internally” or “circling back next week” or (this is the worst) “figuring out how we position this to the client”. By the time they hold three or four massive Zoom calls, spend weeks polishing creative briefs and secure countless approvals, the trend traditional agencies intended to ride has usually sailed off into irrelevance. 

Then there’s cost. Traditional agencies carry overhead like a Birkin bag – it’s flashy, but unnecessarily heavy. It screams, “look at us, aren’t you impressed?”. (I carried that handbag for years.)  I have spoken with many clients who wonder why they’re footing the bill for layers of account execs, strategists, creatives. The absurdity of multi-level account teams – where four account people attend a meeting so one can take notes – is finally being seen for what it is.

Okay, so I’m being hyperbolic:  three account people.

The idea of “creative” in advertising has also irrevocably changed. It used to mean big, polished concepts born in closed-door brainstorms and refined in endless rounds of review by hierarchies of creative directors. Not today. Creative is fast, iterative, and often driven by data and audience feedback in real time. An Instagram video made on a smartphone can outperform a six-figure brand video. Today’s consumers trust influencers and authentic user-generated content far more than slick, polished agency ads. Your potential customers are more likely to trust a candid review from a relatable influencer than a perfectly produced commercial (P.S. I hate the term “influencer”).

Yet agencies still cling to bloated creative departments – copywriter teams, junior ADs, senior ADs, group CDs, ECDs. In a world of $5,000 YouTube videos and 300x250px display ads, paying an executive creative director a mid-six-figure salary feels about as rational as handing the same paycheck to a director of client services.

Today clients need an agency that runs on agility and authenticity. It’s lean, digitally savvy, and laser-focused on results. It doesn’t observe 9 to 5 office hours. They need partners who speak digital fluently, pivot on a dime, understand data intuitively, and aren’t afraid to go to market with real, relatable content that is sometimes imperfect but actually resonates.  Agencies need to bring a new kind of energy to the table and show up with a sense of urgency, curiosity, and a genuine excitement about helping their clients win in this insane digital world.

To paraphrase one of the greatest ad men ever, David Ogilvy, you can’t bore your audience – or your clients – into buying from you.