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What do clients expect from their direct marketing agency in 2007? You name it.

Direct talked recently with executives at some of the industry's top agencies to get their thoughts on the agency's role in today's marketing environment and what they felt were their clients' top priorities.

“I don't believe there's a uniform client out there anymore,” says Bill Kolb, president and COO of MRM Worldwide. “I don't think you can say that client ‘A type’ is looking for this and client ‘B type’ is looking for this. It varies greatly by client. There are those who are looking for a global footprint to measure efficiency. There are some who like the boutique agency to do maybe a small component of their creative. I don't think one size fits all — for the client or the agency.”

Over the last 10 to 15 years, agencies have had trouble demonstrating their relevance to clients, notes Wendy Lurrie, general manager of Draftfcb New York.

“I think the client environment is as difficult and challenging as it's ever been, perhaps more so,” she says. “Every client we work with and every sector we know is under pressure like they've never seen before, from globalization, from procurement, from regulatory.”

What clients need is a strategic value-added partner. According to Lurrie the problem is that overall, agencies haven't stepped up to the plate.

“I think they've created a lot of distance between themselves and clients over time, she says. “I think the whole industry has jargonized itself and branded processes and created black boxes. They've done all sorts of things that didn't demonstrate relevance to a client that may have had things like distribution problems. Clients are under increasing pressure to perform and deliver accountable results.”

Lurrie says agencies have been “turning themselves into knots over the past couple of years” trying to figure out how to serve clients better. “This is why we've seen bundling and unbundling and aggregating and disaggregating.”

This is leading clients to look for better solutions, she continues. “We've noticed that what used to be a single account is now peeled apart, with creative going to a boutique, strategy to a consultant, and media to a media shop. There's still a real hunger and a need for greater value add.”

Many clients are now looking for DM agencies to build the brand and the business at the same time, says Lawrence Kimmel, G2 Direct and Digital's chairman and CEO. “They realize that those of us who have reams of information about customer behavior and an understanding of profitability can also do effective branding.”

For example, he says, clients agencies have worked with in the pharmaceutical space to build Web sites and online strategy now see that an agency that's studied what its prospects are searching for online can apply that knowledge to other channels.

Creative is still the thing that clients come to agencies for, says Ron Jacobs, president of Jacobs & Clevenger. “But they want it informed by more and better strategies. They want it informed by deeper dives into data. They want it informed by multichannel executions. More and more they're saying, ‘How do you take this direct mail execution and broaden it into e-mail, and what does it do for the Web site?’”

Clients also are relying on agencies today for more leadership than ever before, Jacobs adds. “They want us to be aware of the latest ideas, whether it's something like personalized URLs or a whole new way of approaching strategy that they've never thought of before.”

“I think clients are struggling to make sense of all that's going on,” concurs Company C president Nicholas Nocca. “There have been academic conversations in the last few years about the consumer being in control and shifts in technology. Many clients have sat by the sidelines and tried to make sense of this and now they're ready to act. The budgets are there, and fear is a great motivator.”

The world today is very competitive, so brands are looking to differentiate — and they're looking to their agencies to help drive growth, notes Michelle Bottomley, co-president of Ogilvy New York.

“Some of our most sophisticated direct clients are coming to us more as a business partner in growth, rather than a client looking for a specific DM program or execution,” Bottomley says. “We're being asked to look at existing assets, like brand, digital and direct communications, and [determine] how to bring them together to drive greater growth.”

Mark Taylor, executive vice president and chief marketing technology officer at Wunderman, says that in the last few years he's seen clients relying more on the digital channel.

“In the past they might have gone to a specialist agency for something like search,” he says. “Now they realize that search can't be treated as a separate commodity, but as part of an overall marketing mix. And after all, search is direct response advertising, so it makes sense if they come to us.”

Some clients are placing digital and direct above all else, according to Martin Macdonald, chief creative officer and senior partner at RMG Connect. As an example, Macdonald points to the director of marketing at HSBC, who told his staff and the agency that he wanted to see all future marketing presentations begin with digital or direct media rather than traditional space advertising.

The definition of a direct marketing agency is broadening, says MRM's Kolb. “We may see agencies doing more things with technology, we may see IT/agency hybrids, we may see agencies doing more business consulting, competing in the Accenture space.

“Clients are looking for different things from different agencies, and there's plenty of space for everyone,” he adds. “Things go through a cycle. You have great agencies that help develop great people who go off and create their own agencies. Then there's another consolidation and that spawns another group of great people who go off. It's always been that way, and I don't see that changing.”

Is Bigger Better?
Consolidation's fine — if it works to the client's advantage

The direct marketing agency world has seen more than its fair share of consolidation in recent years. But what does it mean for the industry?

For G2 Direct and Digital (formerly Grey Direct), acquisition by WPP a few years back facilitated access to more tools and new media solutions, says G2 chairman and CEO Lawrence Kimmel.

Martin Macdonald, chief creative officer and senior partner at RMG Connect, which is also part of WPP, notes that clients that work with large affiliated agencies often do so for the convenience of one-stop shopping.