CMOs to agencies: adapt or die

The CMO Council released their latest report on client/agency effectiveness this week. (You can download a free executive summary from that link, or spring $199 for the full report.)

Out of the myriad of survey-driven stats from 6,000 corporate marketers across a wide range of major brands, one figure stands out as particularly striking: only 9% of senior marketers believe traditional ad agencies are doing a good job of evolving and extending their service capabilities in the digital age.

When 91% of your customers think you’re a dinosaur, that can’t be good.

From the CMO Council’s press release:

“There’s an underlying level of frustration among senior corporate marketers worldwide when it comes to agency contributions to business value creation, strategic thinking, and digital marketing development,” noted Donovan Neale-May, executive director of the CMO Council, whose members control more than $300 billion in aggregated marketing spend each year. “Our members report quite a bit of switching of digital marketing resources, as well as a view that big, global agencies don’t have a truly integrated offering and capacity to execute in an effective, localized way in emerging markets.

So what are marketers doing about this dissatisfaction?

• 49% are planning to change or consolidate agency rosters within the next 12 months (another 15% are considering it)
• 48% are hiring specialized digital marketing solution and service providers to implement new social, mobile, and interactive strategies
• 47% plan to build internal capabilities and use incumbent agency services less
• 45% are bringing in outside consultants to help set up and structure digital programs

Ring. Ring. “Hello, managing director, it’s Charles Darwin on line 1.”