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It's 1995 and ad agencies support interactive media as a routine service, right?
You've read it on their letterhead and heard about it ad nauseaum from their new
media point man. Since he's supposed to be the expert, you should sit back and
take his word for it, right?
Wrong on both counts. "Interactive Agency" has become the latest requisite label
of cutting-edge marketing communications, but in many cases may actually
represent only "virtual" reality.
To placate industry critics, some agencies touting interactive services do little
more than farm out new media production to startup studios when high-roller
clients absolutely demand it. Unfortunately, small multimedia studios doing topnotch interactive work can't usually accommodate the other conventional
components of a full-blown marketing campaign.
In all fairness, the infant info age has not yet given most agencies sufficient
reason to go all-out developing new media services. (And clients aren't
necessarily banging down agency doors to help cover development costs.) Most
accounts happily stick to conventional game plans, and the high costs of learning
and integrating new technologies aren't yet warranted by the short-term bottom
line. In any case, agencies promising "full service" should be ableto tell you if
there are new media solutions tailor-made for your marketing mission, and then
implement them for you. Here are some ways to differentiate between agencies
that understand and wield interactivity as a marketing tool and those that only
hang the word out as client bait. Separating Wheat From Chaff
Find out the level of training agency staff has acquired in applying marketing
objectives to interactive media. New media old-timers are hard to come by (and
not so old at that). Marketers don't always need techno-savvy at the strategic
level, but it's important at both the creative and deployment stages, which usually
fall on agency turf. New media's rapidly evolving capabilities and unique creative
demands (and possibilities) limit the value of conventional wisdom.
More and more agency pros are going back to school to get a new media brushup, according to Beth Rogozinski, program developer of multimedia studies at
San Francisco State University (SF State). "They're feeling pressure from
multimedia developers and worrying about being bypassed," she says.
It's mostly execs from large firms like Saatchi & Saatchi or Foote, Cone & Belding
that come to get up to speed, Rogozinski tells IM News. "We anticipate that
they'll be well-versed in marketing, but with little or no experience in interactivity."

The technical background needed to understand concepts and levels of

interactivity is far more important than hands-on experience with computer
applications, Rogozinski says. Programmers are easy to find, but it's creative,
integrated thinking that sets truly interactive agencies apart. With an average
multimedia ad class priced at $200, agencies that boast cyber-skills have no
excuse for coming up short on credentials. In-House Technologies
Examine the agency's own use of electronic technologies to communicate inhouse or with clients and media. Basically, if they're still on typewriters, you don't
want 'em. People who ask you to spend a chunk of budget on expensive new
media better demonstrate some faith in those technologies themselves.
"If the agency has integrated technology in-house, linking account people with
creative people and billing people, and is getting clients online, that's one way to
measure their electronic resources," says Robert Pniewski, VP/group account
supervisor at Ross Roy Communications (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.).
Look at how the agency pursues accounts. Does it use slides or digital
presentations? Has it got an Internet hookup or an online domain of ts own?
These are some tip-offs to the level of affinity agencies have for interactive
communications. If it's part of their own business and marketing process, that
probably means agency staff is comfortable with technology, Pniewski says.
Make sure the agency's interactive commitment goes all the way to the top. Don't
get sucked in by the only executive in the agency that knows the difference
between a high-speed server and tennis pro Pete Sampras. Some agencies will
send "the odd guy or two who talk the language" to meet with prospective clients
they know are interested in new media marketing, Pniewski says. Shallow Pitch
Sans Brass
"There's got to be some conduit to upper management," he adds. Otherwise, the
new media services pitch is pretty shallow. If top agency brass isn't educated
about interactive media then there's little reason to believe any significant
resources are being committed to their development. And if that's the case, your
marketing efforts could suffer.