There's a rhetoric around the threat consultancies such as Accenture, PwC and Deloitte offer the media and advertising industry, and what their role means for the future of the industry. Many are defensive, but CEO Tony Hale welcomes their presence in the industry and said he'd be happy for them to join the industry body.
Management consultancies are snapping up creative shops and increasingly moving in on marketing dollars. With Accenture on the acquisition path, recently picking up The Monkeys, and Russel Howcroft jumping ship to PwC, concerns are swelling in the creative industry that consultancies are eating their lunch.
“It may well be down the track that Accenture become a member of The Comms Council. I personally don’t have an issue with it - I think it would be good," Hale said.
Speaking on the AdNews podcast, Hale argued that the competition from businesses like Accenture and Deloitte makes the industry stronger and weeds out the lesser performing agencies.
“We have a lot to learn from consultancies. The one thing consultancies don’t suffer from is margin pressure, IP ownership – and all of those things we’ve struggled with. In terms of margin pressure it’s obviously been a lot more in the last 10-15 years but [for] IP ownership [it's] as long as we can go back,” he says.
“They are very good at those things. They understand how to utilise it and there may be opportunities to work with them either in partnerships or ownerships."
Listen to the AdNews podcast on iTunes to hear the punchy debate. The conversation also touched on the role of industry bodies, Ogilvy's evolution and the need for creative and media agencies to come back together.
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