Two articles caught my eye recently, both pronounced the death of the Digital Agency. Being the sensationalist I am, I thought I’d read them thoroughly and see if I should quit tomorrow. They both had some interesting points, both coming from the centre of the advertising world, not the digital industry.

The first article (chronologically) from a blog called “AdLand Suit” proclaims that people who say they are “digital” is as ridiculous a concept as an ad agency proclaiming they are “tv.” It’s a fair point – why is digital different? The only thing I can think of is the level of fragmentation and complexity of channel mixes and technologies are much greater than those of the long-standing, tried-and-true, ye-olde-world media channels like TV and print (hey, I’m in digital – there aren’t any others, are there?).

The second article from the “Northern Planner” blog is a little more sedate, commenting on way the ad industry was left behind when they couldn’t evolve with digital, and digital agencies made a killing by explaining that digital knowledge wasn’t just for every joe schmoe…

Both articles come to the conclusion that in the age of convergence, “digital” is just another piece in the puzzle, and that identifying yourself as a specialist in this area is becoming irrelevant. Does that mean I think Deepend will be de-funked in a few years? Of course not… For two reasons:

1.    I believe there will be a wave of “New World” ad agencies that come from Digital roots, and who slowly learn the old-world traits and limitations (with more radical ideas than those channels can handle) – I increasingly see campaign ideas come out of Deepend that should cross all channels, sometimes even into the way the clients business functions.

2.    (and this is the clincher) Digital, UNLIKE ANY OTHER CHANNEL, influences every part of a business – not just their advertising. I’m reminded of an article in Razorfishes 2008 Digital Outlook report (p26) that talks about digital being so pervasive in business that only the CEO is capable of making the decisions that relate to how or what should be done with it.

So the “New World” agencies will become capable of marketing products to consumers, developing products with consumers, selling products to consumers, supporting consumers with the products they buy and basically ruling the world!  Muah ah ah ah ahhhhh.