NZ Marketing

The consultancy conundrum

With the introduction of creative consultancies in a big way to the NZ market, we discover what impact this is having on the agency of the future.

The emergence of consulting firms in New Zealand’s advertising sector has ramped up in recent months, with Accenture-owned The Monkeys and Deloitte Digital’s creative offering being two significant players looking to disrupt the scene. Offering significant international resources, and reach across tech, data and creative integrations – promising a more cohesive offering that puts the power back into the hands of clients – takes a deep dive into this relatively new (to New Zealand) NZ model MARKETING of creative agency. This, as we explore if – and how – traditional model agencies are evolving to keep up with market shifts.

Agencies have always operated in a competitive market, but now, they must contend with brand clients bringing marketing tasks in-house and consultancies encroaching on their turf. 2021 saw significant changes to New Zealand Adland – from senior staff moves and the introduction of new market players, to the way marketers interact with their agency partners.

Digital consultancies – the likes of Accenture, Deloitte and PWC

– are becoming bigger than ever and representing expertise in the digital marketing and data-driven sides of the field. In the past, companies that fell under this banner usually focused on the technical side of marketing, leaving the creative side of the field to traditional advertising agencies. Recently, though – and a trend we have seen play out in other markets like the UK and Australia over the past five or so years – there has been a shift as digital consultancies have begun to purchase creative agencies in order to incorporate creative development into the services they offer.

Last year this trend hit the local market in a big way with The Monkeys (Accenture) and Deloitte Digital Creative NZ marking their arrivals to Adland.

Traditionally, digital consultancies have the infrastructure, expertise and data to allow start-up companies to quickly get a larger market share than they would have without assistance. These consultancies are now more so also helping larger brands keep up with the constantly changing aesthetic desires of consumers in the digital, mobile and data spaces, often with a clear advantage over traditional advertising agencies in gathering, analysing and inperpreting data. Their extensive infrastructure is designed to capture as much data as possible and to organise it in ways that assist digital marketing. Building extensive profiles of consumers using this data coupled with these new creative extensions will, for all intensive purposes, allow these consultancies to offer far more than exclusive creative extensions to marketing strategy. At the same time offering businesses the opportunity to tap into their [the consultancy’s] resources to better equip their internal teams and strategies.

The question then becomes, where does this place ‘traditional’ agencies whose focus it is to offer creative services to clients, only, or in partnership with other agencies who provide other services like data and digital executions?

Yes, this may be less relatable to global network agencies like DDB and WPP who offer the full gambit of services. But, with disruption comes change, and they’ll too be asking similar questions.

WHO’S WHO?

However, before we get into a discussion about the impact these consultancies could/ are having on the market, let’s set the scene with a look into the current lay of the land.

There are currently three big players who dominate the digital consultancy landscape in New Zealand. While none of them have surpassed the top traditional advertising agencies, they are moving up quickly. They are:

Accenture. Globally, Accenture Interactive is one of the most profitable digital consultancy, and it represents the largest percentage of its parent company. Accenture Interactive prides itself on providing consistent positive customer interactions rather than traditional advertising. Accenture Interactive’s creative offering in New Zealand is represented by The Monkeys, and headed up by Justin Mowday (EX-DDB Group Aotearoa). Accenture Interactive is ranked the world’s largest digital agency by Ad Age and has been named a Most Innovative Company by Fast Company.

Deloitte Digital. Of all the digital consultancies, Deloitte Digital seems most interested in competing in the creative aspects of the field – hence the launch of its creative offering to New Zealand in 2021 – Deloitte Digital Creative New Zealand. Locally, the consultancy offers the following creative services; transformation through brand, customer strategy, brand creation, brand strategy, brand design, creative XP design & Tech, Meta XP design, Marquee brand comms & creative, creative integration, high volume content adaptation, and automation.

PWC Digital Services. Using technology in a deeply human and trusted way to improve lives is a core part of Pwcs mission. Data is central to the PWC offering in New Zealand, and for the most part does not offer creative services in in the country, as Accenture and Deloitte do.

So, what’s their point of difference from the traditional creative agency model? Consultancies like Accenture Interactive and Deloitte Digital are seemingly making one core tenet part of their pitch to marketers: If you want to take back more control of your marketing, do

“Deloitte NZ is actually a New Zealand-owned company, and we’ve no plans to build a big ad agency model. We see ourselves as consultants that our clients can lean on to guide their investment and their brands.”

Ahmad Salim

it in-house, we’ll help you do it. Looking at how consultancies operate in other global markets, generally, they seem to have a stronger relationship with the clients that goes beyond the Chief Marketing Officer (encompassing the c-suite), and an overall perception that they’re objective partners, not simply vendors – therefore positioning themselves to remain top of mind for advertisers as partners within their marketing teams.

THE PROMISE

Deloitte Digital Creative NZ showed its intent in the creative space when it employed Dan Wright as Chief Creative Officer and Ahmad Salim as Managing Director in 2021.

During their time at Colenso BBDO they led work that won over 500 of the industry’s most coveted awards. The duo’s best-known work includes ‘Selfiestix’ and ‘ The Child Replacement Program’ for Pedigree, ‘Kupu’ and ‘Spark Play’ for Spark NZ, ‘I’m Drinking It For You’ for DB Export, Puppo ‘Every Dog Has Its Ad’, and ‘Life After’ for General Electric.

“It’s genuinely exciting to take on the opportunity of integrating creativity into Deloitte’s consulting services to support NZ’S fastest growing and highest performing businesses. Deloitte Digital are already at the top of their game in the many services they provide to their wide portfolio of clients. By seamlessly integrating creative thinking into those world class services, we can help brands and businesses tackle the opportunities and challenges of the future with even greater impact,” says Ahmad of his intent for the new creative service offering.

He believes that Adland finds itself in a period of time where business leaders are constantly having to reinvent their playbooks, and that this evolution requires the application of creativity to both the systems and stories applied by brands and businesses. Its intent is focussed on connecting creative thinking into every aspect of the business through its ‘Hello New’ brand positioning.

When asked how this intends to compete with the bigger network agencies, Ahmad says its more about creating partnerships that push the industry forward.

“Deloitte NZ is a New Zealand-owned company, and we’ve no plans to build a big ad agency model. We see ourselves as consultants that our clients can lean on to guide their investment and their brands towards achieving their organisations’ purpose in ways that are in harmony with a happy, healthy New Zealand. That means, rather than build lots of in-house capability, we’re looking forward to being able to create opportunities to work with the many incredible independent creative companies around New Zealand. From independents to

“I’m confident that there’s appetite for our services, both strategically and in implementation. The trick is joining it all up for our clients.”

Priya Patel

creative, design and media agencies, and of course our incredible production community, we want to work with the best talent in New Zealand rather than be greedy and keep it all for ourselves. Hopefully, helping to grow the local industry and broaden the opportunities for new talent to join us.”

An April 2019 poll conducted by Digiday showed that 22 percent of client-side marketers planned to shift work from agencies to consulting firms. While the majority of respondents (52 percent) planned to maintain their agencies, consultancies are gaining traction with agencies’ clients.

Several large network agencies are adapting to these trends by expanding their consulting services – or have already been doing so over the past few years. Take the DDB/TRACK offering as example. In doing so, they mimic these consulting firms making a push into digital marketing.

Looking at what’s happened globally, embracing a consulting role has proved useful for agencies when they have a client bringing work in-house. For instance, if a brand wants to bring ad buying in-house, the agency can still maintain a relationship with the brand if it consults on how to best set up its technology stack. Maintaining that relationship also puts the agency in a good position should the brand decide to retreat from in-housing.

WPP AUNZ’S transformation in recent years into a middle ground between Adland is a good example.

Quoted as saying before he stepped down from his CEO role of WPP AUNZ, Jens Monsees said: “There is a wonderful sweet spot in the middle where consultancy, tech implementation, creative and media operations are coming together, and that integrated and connected model is the new WPP.”

Justin Mowday says that Accenture Interactive in New Zealand, through The Monkeys it is reimagining business through experience. “We drive sustainable growth by creating meaningful experiences that live at the intersection of purpose and innovation.”

Previously chatting with Stoppress about Accenture’s difference and growing the agency locally, Justin said: “By connecting deep human and business insights with the possibilities of technology, we design, build, communicate and run experiences that make lives easier, more productive and rewarding.

He says that the international expertise that the Accenture group brings to the table, especially on the data, creativity and technology fronts is going to set his offering apart from the traditional creative agency model. This, he says was further reinforced by the appointment in August of acclaimed creative icon David Droga as Accenture Interactive’s CEO and creative chairman.

“We are excited about combining our local knowledge and creative ideas to the broad ownership opportunities of the Accenture group and its global influence. And to work with the likes of Droga is just even more special. This couldn’t be a better fit for us.”

Drawing on the group’s global resources is something that Justin says The Monkeys is going to have to do as the agency grows. Although, the agency has lured several top talents from the local market as it too contends with significant shifts in personnel.

“Just as important as it has been to attract the top talent out there, equally so has been our desire to meet and engage new talent and get a diversity of thought going within the agency.

“All of this has been reassuring for us in the decision we made. It’s also put us in a great position in that we are able to choose the conversations we have out in the market.”

THE DIFFERENCE

Tony Bradbourne, Founder and CEO of indie Special Group, now with presence in several international markets, says he doesn’t see the creative extensions of these consultancies as offering anything new or different.

When asked about the promise by these new players to streamline marketing services and put the power back in the hands of marketers giving them support to do things in-house, and how this is different to what Special and other similar creative agencies are doing, he says: “We do that every day with our clients, such Optus in Australia who have an excellent and very large in-house agency.

“I think most leading CMOS and CEOS are looking for results from their agencies, strategies and creativity that really propel business forward. And I think there’s always room for agencies, consultancies, individuals or innovators who can deliver that.”

He says that talent is going to be key in remaining competitive in a changing market.

“We are lucky at Special to be pretty stacked in every department. And because of our global reputation we have the unique ability to attract the best talent from around the world, so we are lucky to be choosing from a much bigger global pool.

“For example, we’ve just hired Matt Swinburne from AMVBBDO in London, he’s worked at the best agencies in the world including

Mother and Droga5, but chose Special in Auckland.”

As for the global networks, who may be more inclined to offer similar services as consultancies, albeit in a more complicated structure (see our Map of Adland on page 64), what do they make of these new additions to the local market, and how are they adapting their offerings?

DDB, who lost Justin and Damon Stapleton to The Monkeys, has since brought in new CEO Priya Patel who has experience in the Australian and UK markets (where consultancies have been operating for a number of years). She spoke to Nzmarketing on the back of the consultancy wave. When we asked her where she thinks the future creative agency is headed, she had this to say:

“I’m a big believer in just running your own race. So, you can’t spend too much time looking sideways, when really what we’ve got to do is look ahead and figure out what we offer as a group, and what are our strengths are. I’m confident in our model and the capabilities we have. We have good data, digital, and comms capability, and there’s been consistent growth in these areas for a decade. So, I’m confident that there’s appetite for our services, both strategically and in implementation. The trick is joining it all up for our clients, and that’s what helps push a brand forward. When you can create that complete brand experience, and resolve every touch point along the consumer journey, there’s real value there for a client, and especially if they can get that all through one front door.

“That’s the strength of the DDB Group model, that our clients get to tailor-make the offer that they want. So they don’t have to take it all, but if they want PR and CRM capability, and a bit of tech build, they can build that model. And we build bespoke teams for clients which is an unlock to not making the agency clunky.

“Overall, as an industry, what we do hasn’t hugely evolved. It’s just the ways in which we bring that to market are shifting and changing.”

And how is marketing going to respond to this change? “This is where your specialist model comes into play. What brands now have to juggle is that mixture of filling the top of the funnel; broadcast mass comms that gets many eyeballs on something, but then moving further down through the journey, being able to have a bank of customers that you can target really specifically, and then actually build loyalty and relationships with. So again, our role is to help clients build that complete brand experience, from first initial interest all the way through to engendering loyalty.”

And while all agencies and networks promise difference and a client-centric approach, local WPP offering Ogilvy and its CEO Kelly-ann Maxwell says that she’s not going to let red-tape often associated with larger networks stand in the way of Ogilvy Network NZ being able to put clients first and being a serious disruptor in the current market.

“Businesses that truly function with clients first are nimbler, more agile in their approach and deliver talent to find the solutions regardless of their own operational complexity,” she says.

The nature of this operating structure Kelly-ann likens to those of the new and established indies operating in New Zealand. Her biggest competitors she says: “All those brands who are unencumbered by complexity.

“They are nimble, make decisions on the ground and flex their business to suit the needs of their clients and changes in the market. They ask the client what they want and provide it versus agencies who tend to provide a service and tell the client why they need it. We are operating the network like an established start-up. Be agile, make decisions quickly and in the words of Ross Geller – PIVOT – when needed. There’s a Gen X reference for you,” she says.

Ultimately, Kelly-ann’s vision is to build a Network that enables growth. Growth she says must be driven by diverse and talented people.

“Ogilvy is focused on its people, the brand values, its talent and believes in creativity. I want to be part of an organisation that

“I’m a big fan of integration because I’ve seen that work for clients on a local level, in countries like Belgium and others, but also on a global level.”

Sebastien Desclée

understands that profit only comes from believing in its talent.”

And what of the view from FCB? Sebastien Desclée, the agency’s CEO who joined from Belgium last year, has had the opportunity to encounter many different agencies with varying capabilities and a diverse range of clients, facing distinctive situations. He says:

“What I would like to be able to do, is share these experiences with the teams and clients in New Zealand. Many things have been evolving and some of the markets have been accelerating, for example, on data capabilities, on technology capabilities, and some have been facing extremely challenging situations given Covid. My intention would be to bring these tangible capabilities into the New Zealand agency and make them available for clients.”

Desclée’s approach is not a ‘one size fits all’. “How are we going to be able to adapt our offering to our clients’ needs?” he muses. “I’m a big fan of integration because I’ve seen that work for clients on a local level, in countries like Belgium and others, but also on a global level. When you put into the equation, the need to help our clients drive business results in the short, mid, and long-term, being able to control and help them envision the spectrum of all their activities is often more efficient and effective. This doesn’t detract from more specialised offerings, which are also sometimes needed, depending on the client’s needs and their business situation.”

The new CEO has a desire to integrate data with creativity and wants to strengthen the integrated capabilities FCB has to offer. On the other hand, he sees local initiatives creating a positive dynamic, “because it forces changes and change is good”.

While it remains to be seen the tangible applications of these new offerings, the anticipation certainly has sparked much discussion as you will read throughout the rest of this issue of the magazine.

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2022-03-31T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-03-31T07:00:00.0000000Z

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