In the advertising business the lines are truly blurring.
While speaker after speaker suggested this during the opening sessions of Goafest 2015, the proof of the pudding was in the Media Abby awards that were given away on the first evening of Goafest this year.
Media agencies, traditionally defined as agencies who decide on the best medium for your advertising message and optimise the costs of the marketing spends, have now become idea machines – the domain of creative agencies – in their own right.
But the awards night showed that even their turf is being encroached upon.
One look at the Goafest Media Abby Awards 2015 tally and one could see how non-media agencies are making inroads into what was the preserve of traditional media. In this year's Goafest Media Abby Awards, at least half-a-dozen non-media agencies were award-winners.
And between them, these non-media specialists took away nearly 10 per cent of the awards that were handed out in the media category.
So who were the non-media agencies? These included specialist digital agencies (Interactive Avenues, iProspectCommunicate2, Isobar India and WATconsult) and a solitary creative agency - TBWA from Sri Lanka.
Pratap Bose, who chaired the jury for the Media Abbys, says that India is only reflecting the change that is taking place world over. “At Cannes, advertising’s global stage, creative agencies dominate the media awards,” he says.
Ashish Bhasin, chairman and CEO, South Asia, Dentsu Aegis Network, points out that the bigger takeaway from the awards tally is the true democratisation. Less than two-three years ago, only about 15-20 agencies would have accounted for all the awards given out at Goafest.
This year, about 110 agencies won across different categories. “There is a long tail developing. It is no longer the dominance of one-two large players,” he says.
And he adds that super specialisation is leading to more and more players winning across categories.
For instance, in a category such as search engine marketing, an SEM/SEO specialist is now earning the winners tag, compared to a full service agency which would have been the winner earlier.
The democratisation has begun with the award winners. Will we soon see agency business getting more evenly distributed as well?