The age of the traditional ad agency is coming to end.  Inventive thinking shops like Crispin+Porter Bogusky, agencies that are embracing T-shaped thinking, like JWT, interactive shops like R/GA and maybe even a company like the new Draft FCB Group are the agencies of today.

Adotas has a new article online directly related to this topic.  It’s called “Changing of the Agency Guard: Why Account Planners Should Be Digital Enablers“.

I couldn’t have put it better.

Here are some choice quotes:

A Brand these days is a “User Experience” in the broadest sense – a combination of look, feel and function. This maps to the old paradigm – Look is the Visual Identity, and Feel, the messaging and emotional out-take. But Feel now also covers Brand behaviors – how a Brand does something. And Function is completely new – what the Brand does. That used to just be the product. Now, with digital, that’s no longer so – the product is one part of the “function” of the Brand, the digital experience another. These days, for some Brands, the product and the digital experience are merging into one.

On digital enabling:

Planners will have to lift their eyes above the concept of the traditional ad campaign within a set of static media. The discipline will necessarily become more consultative – delivering recommendations not just on what message a customer engagement should convey, but what means will most effectively meet the client’s business objectives, be it through communications, the creation of a new online service, the delivery of a new digital product, a new viral activity, engagement in a community, or whatever else is relevant.

On the need for more T-shaped thinking:

Planners will also play an important role in bringing digital experiences to life. “Creatives,” “Techies” and Media types habitually “talk past” each other. At the moment, creatives are wrapped up the message, media folks in ad placements, and techies in the function. They are collectively ill-equipped to cope with the broader engagement possibilities enabled by the digitization of media.

Great stuff. Read the complete article here.