Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight

You’re trying to imagine what the agency of the future looks like. You’re thinking about bringing video production in-house. Or merging a tech company with a consulting practice. Or freelancing media and emphasizing content marketing.

I would advise you to stop doing this, because you’ll just go crazy and end up right where you started: focusing on what the agency of the future looks like. As marketing leaders continue to shake their magic eight-ball and arbitrarily guess what the future holds for communications, most of us make the same, frustrating mistake: We focus on the “what.”

The truth is that what the agency of the future looks like doesn’t matter. What you do, regardless of your level of expertise, has completely and forever transformed into a commodity. Don’t believe me? Look around. Consulting firms are building content development powerhouses. Algorithms are writing articles. Enormous freelance communities are a click away. And brands are increasingly looking inward for solutions.

As a partner and strategy director of my own agency, I can tell you this much: What you do is a commodity....

As the CEO of Momentum Worldwide, a nontraditional agency that spans all facets of creative, media and ideation, Chris Weil knows how difficult invention can be. After all, he is credited with coining the term "phygital," which describes the increasing connection between the physical and digital world around us. Weil strives to bring what he calls a "total brand experience" to such clients as American Express, the U.S. Army and Microsoft.

It's one reason he was selected to serve as a judge for this year's Project Isaac Awards. In that spirit, Weil was asked to share his thoughts on invention. Interestingly, he expresses a desire to completely reinvent the agency structure from being execution-based to being growth-based. And he offers his thoughts on the difference between creativity ("inspired") and invention ("brave")...