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Grappling with an Industry in Transition

This edition of The Internationalist highlights multiple viewpoints and

commentaries that address how marketers are coping with change, accountability

and an industry in transition, while also acknowledging some of the people who are

reinventing our business.

We begin with insights from Millward Brown Vermeer on organizing for growth

in a Digital Age. Their ndings tell us that in today’s digital world, what marketers

do has changed almost beyond recognition, but interestingly, how the marketing function is organized

has not changed much since the discipline of brand management was rst developed over fty years ago.

Lenovo’s Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Of cer David Roman believes that to stand out and

build a brand in today’s Digital Age, marketers must be fearless about giving up control in exchange for

driving true engagement. He’s also keenly aware that marketers must also support sales objectives and

nancial targets. “But,” he says, “we must do so in entirely new ways, because our customers have truly,
dramatically, and permanently changed how they interact with us, what they expect of us, and how they

will react to us if we do not deliver in an authentic way on our promises to them.”

GE’s Andy Markowitz outlines how we are currently operating in the Age of Transformation and

Accountability, rather than The Golden Age of Marketing. He says, “I see marketing as being

accountable, and through accountability, you build relevance and value-- internally and externally.
Technologies are evolving so fast and we are now moving beyond the ‘test and learn’ phases to a place

where digital is creating opportunities to reach true accountability with marketing spend.”

Dentsu’s Chairman Tim Andree looks at a changing agency business in a new light. He comments:

“In the midst of globalization and convergence, we are living in a complex environment for clients. It’s
not complicated; it’s complex. And we have to mitigate the cost of complexity for our clients. We have to

organize so that our talent is used to provide the best solutions in an environment where collaboration is

valued--not just at scale, but across the organization and across geographies.”

John Billett issues a stern warning to global marketers about media agency management. He outlines
how the fundamental change taking place across the marketing services business is that the agencies,

who for a long time were the agents working on behalf of advertisers acting as custodians of the

advertisers’ best interests, have now become the media owners.

And nally, we celebrate this year’s INNOVATORS are transforming our concepts of a contemporary
advertising agency business. This extraordinary group of 30 individuals from all corners of the globe are

embracing change and making a difference for their agencies and for their clients. Without question,

we’re seeing a greater focus on sophisticated and specialized content creation, as well as a trend in new

leaders who operate at the intersection of innovation, technology and creativity.

Deb Malone
Founder

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