Mad men vs. organization men: Digital consultancies are making inroads with marketers against traditional ad agencies

This article explains the reasons for digital consultancies' increasing inroads and how they compare to traditional ad agencies in creative and digital.

Robert Schwartz, global leader of agency services at IBM iX, is convinced that two factors have brought the marketing community to a decisive existential moment. "Simply put, we see this as the single greatest time to be a creator," he says, citing the power of technology and a never-before-seen ability to overturn brands and disrupt entire industries and categories. Conversely, and as a direct result of that first factor, it's also the most difficult time to be a business, Schwartz says, "Especially if you have existing infrastructure, brands, products, or services."

Schwartz's pedigree — two decades of senior marketing positions...

Not a subscriber?

Schedule your live demo with our team today

WARC helps you to plan, create and deliver more effective marketing

  • Prove your case and back-up your idea

  • Get expert guidance on strategic challenges

  • Tackle current and emerging marketing themes

We’re long-term subscribers to WARC and it’s a tool we use extensively. We use it to source case studies and best practice for the purposes of internal training, as well as for putting persuasive cases to clients. In compiling a recent case for long-term, sustained investment in brand, we were able to support key marketing principles with numerous case studies sourced from WARC. It helped bring what could have been a relatively dry deck to life with recognisable brand successes from across a broad number of categories. It’s incredibly efficient to have such a wealth of insight in one place.

Insights Team
Bray Leino

You’re in good company

We work with 80% of Forbes' most valuable brands* and 80% of the world's top top-of-the-class agencies.

* Top 10 brands