Agency lunches are going to cost more.

Long long ago in an agency not so far away...

There were just two folks

CopywriterArt Director

They made ads...fun ads - for newspapers, magazines, radio and TV. Fun times!!!!

CopywriterArt Director

Check my cool

layout bro!

Then someone was like....

Um...guys, we should, like,

listen to what people really want before

selling.

Then the big guy was like....

Hire all them planning folks

The planner came along...

Hey guys! I’m the voice of the consumer.

Yeah, whatever!

She’s pretty! :D

AccountPlanner

Over time, they learned to work together

Go team!!!

Sure! Bro, you know you and I

are the “real” team right?

Then another day, someone said

Have you guys heard of this new thing called the

Internet?

Then the big guy was like....

Hire all them website folks

So came the interactive folks.

Hey guys! I have some cool ideas

Yeah....about that. You go do

your binary thing in that room.

HTML Gal

Yeah....we’ll call you when we’re

done here.

The story continued...and more people joined

Flash Guy

App Guy

Then the big guy was like....

Heck, just hire ‘em all.

Then at one point, no one had a clue.

It’s our idea dammit

What’s the strategy? NO!

That’s an objective!

There’s an app for that!

I hate you guys!

Can we get some integration here????

Then someone else said...

Um...guys, people are talking shit about your ads and your brands.

Then the big guy was like....

Aw...hell!

And then they hired this new guy.

I wear a top hat because I think I know more than you guys.

Social Media Strategist

Then some blogger somewhere says....

THE BIG IDEA IS KING!!! All else is

secondary!

Collaboration, man! That’s all!

Everything else is old bro! It’s all digital.

FYI:

Despite the hair, this is not a sketch of Faris Yakob (who btw is awesome!)

Then everyone was even more confused.

Dude, I’m an Art Director. WTF do I do on your twitter

campaign?My audience

doesn’t have smartphones, but

making apps feels good!

What in the world is “digital copy”?

I’m still rocking the top hat!

Then the big guy was like....

Dammit! The agency team lunch bill is HUGE!!!! Fire half

those folks.

What Next???

Getting teams to work is hard enough.

And it’s becoming tougher everyday as we add new dimensions to what it means to communicate a brand experience.

It’s easier to blog about new agency models than actually get down to it and change things.

Is the Art Director + Copywriter combo dead? Can too many people on the team cause sheer chaos? If you have multiple "creatives" collaborating - what holds them together? Are we expecting one person to do (too) many things? Will hiring new talent actually solve my agency's problems?

It’s our idea dammit

Until real change happens, collaboration lives only in stock photography.

[seriously! look at this image! can you feel it?]

Hi!

We’re students of the VCU Brandcenter and we think about this stuff a lot. So we decided to get some answers....Hi!

@RachelMercer

@GautamRamdurai

We found THREE awesome people

Rick Webb, Owner, The Barbarian Group.

Rick is awesome at multiple levels - he’s solved the whole "how do we make money on the web" problem and that whole "what is the future of advertising" problem.

Ben Malbon, Executive Director of Innovation.

In the past few years BBH Labs, run by Ben Malbon and Mel Exon, has become the go to resource for anyone curious about the future of advertising. His vision for the industry parallels his extraordinary intelligence.

Edward Boches, CCO at Mullen.

He’s a changemaker and the perfect bridge between “traditional” and “digital”. He epitomizes that you don’t have to be in your 20s to crack the digital code.

And we hope to ask them some such tough questions...

Provided we get to...at the SxSW Interactive Festival.

Hey guys! I have some questions

So, if you think this will be a valuable discussion, please vote for our panel here:

http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/ideas/view/7665

Thanks I’m still rocking the top hat!