Can you touch digital grass? It’s a thought I have as I sit at my computer daily having a debate in my head between two overarching thoughts; that the walls are closing in on a media agency like DNW and brands might need help before because of the modern ecosystem, making us more important than ever. In that internal discussion, it leaves me with the feeling like I need to remind myself to step outside what I see on my screen daily and touch digital grass!

In our daily interactions working with brands, we have noticed trends impacting our world. It’s hard to avoid and we aren’t the only ones because it’s not just in media but it is impacting the creative side too. Here are 4 ways we are feeling the walls closing in on us.

1. We know the AI train is going down the tracks at record speeds and it will certainly impact media teams in some fashion. We see it with these platforms that make it harder to run campaigns as we see fit because they of course know better (rolls eyes). Also, clients see this as an opportunity to become leaner with head-count or support needed to run the campaigns on their behalf.

2. Private Equity has led to greater consolidation of industries. That fun start-up or regional brand that is now mature doesn’t work with an agency that helped get them there. They got bought and that work is consolidated to a bigger team.

3. The trend of brands going in-house on media isn’t new but it continues to be prevalent. The control of work is tantalizing, even if sometimes flawed. At our size client engagement, why pay an agency $50-100k over a year when you can hire someone and then gain further control?

4. Media commoditization happens where everyone devalues media strategy and buying skills (who doesn’t think it’s easy to run ad campaigns in Meta/Google?)

When I list it like that, it seems daunting. Then I remember to breathe and remember that I deep down have this optimistic view that agency folks, especially on the media side, are more important than ever. Our jobs and work aren’t going away, but are shifting, and we might end up being more important, not less.

Has anyone gone into Meta ad lately to setup a campaign? It’s an absolute hellscape. It’s as if the worst site filled with spam ads turned into a media buying platform. Every time you setup a campaign you must uncheck 10 different settings Meta says “works the best” to run the campaign how you want. And when you have the campaign dialed in and want to recreate again, they change settings on you, often without you knowing. There are skeletons buried all over that ad platform, and you know who has the keys to unlock that mystery box? Smart ad agencies.

In a world telling us – it’s never been easier – (I promise AI didn’t put those dashes in) I actually think it’s never been harder. One of our lines about DNW’s value proposition is that we distill the complicated and that it takes a group of highly skilled individuals to find success, and that has never been truer than what is being sold to the industry.

I can teach someone in an hour who to setup a basic ad campaign and probably in 4-6 months they will feel comfortable with the bells and whistles, but it really takes 5-10 years to be able to marry that blend of executional excellence with strategic knowhow to move brands towards their version of success. It’s not a magic bullet but really sound thinking developed over time that gets you there.

And that is where the optimism lies. Agencies like DNW can thrive because the hands-on experience needed to help brands will trump a lot of market forces. In a world where the walls feel like they are closing in and shortcuts are everywhere, it’s the hard work and strategic chops that gets it done. Sometimes I just need to remember to touch some digital grass.

Touch Digital Grass