I’ll keep this one quick. I’ve got a post this week in Digiday on how some agency professionals are starting to apply a Silicon Alley & Valley mentality:
Recent dealings with peers at other agencies have been collaborative, open and supportive, partially thanks to the formation of the Technology, Advertising & Startup Council, which I co-founded with Darren Herman, Ian Schafer and Mark Silva. While we’ve all cut our teeth in the agency business, I’m not sure any of us wholeheartedly identify with being ”agency people.” I have been with my agency for seven years, but calling me an agency guy is too limiting. When I’m doing my job well, I’m a connector of people and ideas, a strategist, an educator and an advisor. I’m not the grown-up version of the kids in the 2006 satirical clip, “When I Grow Up I Wanna Work in Advertising.”
I identify far more closely with the spirit of Silicon Valley and Silicon Alley. People with the Silicon ethos believe in collaboration. There is far more to be gained from partnership opportunities than there is to be lost from competitive threats. It’s the mindset that gave birth to open source and the Creative Commons. Darren nailed it in a blog post last spring, when he said, “entrepreneurs are idealists and agencies are realists.”
Read the full post at Digiday. I’d love to know what you think.
People reacted to this story.
Show comments Hide commentsVery interesting post. I’d have to say that it all depends on each agency’s niche. Some agencies specialize in digital marketing while others are experts at broadcast media. Instead of looking at each other as fierce competition, look at it as “what can I bring to the table that I excel at, that will compliment other offerings?”