WPP is launching its Signposter outdoor trading portal. ZenithOptimedia has restructured its buying operation around client teams rather than specific media. IPG has finally bitten the bullet and forced some changes through at Initiative and Universal McCann. Phil Georgiadis has sold his remaining tranche of shares in Walker Media to parent company M&C Saatchi. Then there's the rise of CHI & Partners as a media player, outlined in this week's feature (page 24), and other start-ups such as Hurrell Moseley Dawson & Grimmer. And, in this issue, Media Week breaks the story about the new Media Equals online trading platform for offline media.
You sense a jostling for position, perhaps brought on by the imperatives and disciplines imposed by the wider economic situation, as the large agency groups flex their muscles, and nimbler project or consultancy-based outfits set up shop, hoping to prosper in the slipstream of the networked giants.
In an interview that goes live today on Media Week TV, Dominic Proctor, chief executive of MindShare Worldwide, describes how the agency business has changed since he set up the WPP-owned network a decade ago. He says back then it was fundamentally quite narrow. Now, however, there are many more media opportunities and a far greater level of knowledge and understanding within the client community.
Clients want agencies to have a broader skill set, take a holistic view and contribute more widely. To do this, the big agencies are getting bigger - either by grouping together or growing organically.
Proctor recognises that the business is more global and the media agency is becoming the enduring global hardwired partner for brands. Media agencies require volume and scale; otherwise they don't have the time, revenue or resource to properly address clients' problems. As head of a global media network, he would say all this wouldn't he? Nevertheless, it's a compelling insight into the issues facing modern media agencies and well worth checking out at
A view from Steve Barrett
Big get bigger as clients ask for wider agency input
There have been some fascinating developments in the world of media agencies documented in Media Week in recent weeks that provide indicators about the way the industry is set to develop.