agencies

( Jerry Wind from Wharton asked me to answer this question. Here's what I came up with. I'd love to hear how you'd answer the question. Thanks.)

I believe that capitalism runs on the inefficiencies in any given market. These inefficiencies force evolution. They force change and innovation. Often rendering old business models irrelevant.

Now is as good a time as any to be thinking about the future of digital (and social) as defined by those of us who provide services or even products around these. If you work for any agency or consultancy—this article is relevant for you. If you're on the "client side" consider it relevant as well as ultimately it is your business model and needs which dictate the market conditions that affect your partners, vendors and professional service providers.

This week I spent some time in one of the largest advertising agencies in the UK. I always love going to agencies. There is a lot of energy - people rush around - there is a lot of laughing. How could you not find that motivating. The downside, for the agencies, is that the people that work there are, with very, very few exceptions, half the age of most of the people that buy the products they are trying to promote.

The growth in the number of APIs is one of those exponential curves often associated with digital. The Programmable Web Directory now lists over 4,000, a milestone it recorded only 6 months after it logged its 3000th, which in turn was only 9 months after it passed its 2000th recorded API.

Does it make sense for an ad agency to launch an incubator for tech start-ups? You could (and many no doubt would) say that this was merely a distraction from the day job. An unnecessary aberration from what agencies are meant to be doing. Personally, I think it makes a bunch of sense. Here's why.

If you work in either an agency, consultancy or professional services firm, then you've likely seen an article or five over the past few years making the case for agencies to act more like start-ups. The logic goes something like this: start-ups are nimble and product focused.