The recent AgencySpy postings depicted above show the state of job security in adland. At 3:31 pm, the blog noted TBWA\Chiat\Day New York welcomed a new Head of Integrated Production. About two hours later, it was announced that the White advertising agency cut staffers. These days, updating agency org charts and employee directories warrants a full-time employee.
Here's the translation.
ReplyDeleteAn agency slashes a bunch of staff to save money.
Then they hire a "Head of Integrated Production" or "Chief Content Creator" type role to keep more money under their roof.
Basically agencies tell clients they can now do all kinds of production internally, why look for or bid outside companies?
The agency inflates prices like you wouldn't believe. Sometimes they bid those outside companies, and adjust their own prices based on their bids. That's why there's a Department of Justice investigation going on:
http://www.adweek.com/agencies/anas-production-transparency-report-corroborates-years-of-illegal-anticompetitive-behavior-by-ad-agencies/
But mostly, agencies are panicking because all their usual ways of making money, like media buys, have been taken from them, so now they are creating internal production divisions and telling their clients that they can handle it all. It's all about the money they can keep internally to themselves.