In July 1998, when the first edition of Aurora was launched, Pakistani ad agencies were in a state of flux. The traditional full-service agency was under stress. The ‘one client, one agency’ rule had been broken, with clients opting to split their accounts according to their brands, thereby redefining the agency’s preeminent role as one of ‘brand custodianship’.

It was also a time when seeking affiliations with global networks became the gateway to securing global accounts and accessing global learnings. Today’s younger agency personnel will find it difficult to imagine both the importance and impact of global affiliations in a world where the internet did not exist and where the opportunities for global exposure were limited mainly to attending regional and international advertising conferences, prospects only afforded to the lucky few. (In this context, the impact of AdAsia 89 must be measured). This period portended towards the end of agency leadership, with multinational clients taking the lead in shaping the direction of strategy for Pakistan’s ad agencies. More significantly, globalisation saw the entry of media buying houses and the disruption of the 15% agency commission (the basis of every agency’s revenue model) as media placement migrated to newly established media agencies.

Then, the internet happened and technology upended all the rules. It took some time for the full effects to take hold. New media became the new buzzword and agencies struggled to set up digital divisions, only to see that function migrate to specialised digital agencies. Catapulted into a client-driven era of specialisation, agencies sought to reinvent themselves, and the full-service (360-degree) agency was declared dead. But then specialisation became too disruptive, with clients struggling to manage multiple service partners, and the full-service agency was revived under the somewhat unsatisfactory nomenclature of ‘hybrid’ agencies.

In the face of the technological advancements driving digital media, ad agencies had to reconcile themselves to relinquishing their media placement capabilities as well as their digital ambitions. They became what we now call ‘creative agencies’ – a function that remains under constant erosion by media, digital and OOH agencies, and even more fundamentally by the tech agencies. The next major inflection point for creative agencies will now take shape in the AI domain.

Looked at from the vantage point of the last 27 years, agencies remain very much in transition – that is perhaps the one constant reflected in Aurora’s coverage. Today, new agencies are emerging (for example, Alt Story and Viral Edge) based on new revenue models, project-based hiring and promising more agility, better ideas and better results. That the ‘traditional’ agencies continue to survive is a tribute to their tenacity and their ability to adopt and adapt, but the question is, for how long? ‘Creator marketing’ – where brands pay social media celebrities to promote their brands – is paving the way for specialist ‘creator agencies’ to further amplify the reach of social media influencers. Such new developments, along with the entry of AI into the equation, portend to another grand realignment of the marketing communications function. The fundamentals of brand building will remain the same, but the skills and the services to deliver on this will require a radical overhaul of how the ad agencies themselves function.

INTERVIEWS Atiya Zaidi – MD & ECD, BBDO Pakistan

PROFILES The Man Behind the Brand: Shoaib Qureshy, MD, Bulls Eye DDB Group

ARTICLES Zabardasti Ki Baat – Atiya Zaidi