The Newest Ad Agencies: Major Media Companies†

Marketers Increasingly Bypass Traditional Business Model

Advertising Age, November 3, 2008 — When Procter & Gamble Co. brought hundreds of suppliers to Cincinnati earlier this month for its first "supplier summit," among them were 40 media companies. The message from Chairman-CEO A.G. Lafley, according to one attendee: "We want your ideas, and if we use them, we'll give you a piece of the action."

It should be no surprise that media companies are among the partners P&G is looking to tap for ideas that range from new products to new ways of marketing them. Though it may be the largest, it's far from the only marketer soliciting marketing advice from media companies these days.

CMOs Annoyed by Agencies, Ad Networks†

HP, Charles Schwab Mull Going Direct to Media Companies; Verizon Takes Online Partners to Task

Advertising Age, October 20, 2008 — Agencies and ad networks came in for some rough treatment at a CMO roundtable during the Association of National Advertisers' annual conference on Saturday as executives vented their dissatisfaction with agency models and ad-network performance.

The chief marketing officers of Hewlett-Packard and Charles Schwab openly mulled the attractiveness of bypassing agencies to work directly with media companies and other experiments as they look to fix an agency model they see as broken.

Can DDB morph into a 'swarm communications' shop?†

Brymer's agency, known for its :30 work, refocuses on influence, community

Advertising Age, November 19, 2007 — After 18 months at the helm of DDB Worldwide, Chuck Brymer is betting that an agency known for interrupting consumers with splashy creative like Bud's "Wassup?'' campaign can learn to speak the much more delicate language of community.