Choosing Between Consulting Firms and Agencies

With the advent of smartphones, wearable tech, booming e-commerce, and the Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data has woven itself into the fabric of our lives and our livelihoods. In response, today’s marketing industry is undergoing a seismic shift from being creative-driven to tech-driven. While creativity still gets attention, data-driven strategy is what keeps that attention.

How does this relate to creative agencies and consulting firms?

As companies adapt to evolving technology, they are integrating martech solutions to stay ahead. In a recent survey of 300 marketers, 48% said the marketing technology landscape has evolved rapidly since 2015, while 15% said it had evolved at light speed. Companies—whether clients, agencies, or consultancies—must prioritize martech to maintain operational efficiency.

For clients, this ground is rocky. Not only do they need creative services, but they need additional support from other data-driven areas like digital transformation, strategy and operations, and more. This demand has creative agencies struggling—and consulting firms are filling the void.

Why creative agencies are struggling

Marketing agencies focus on creativity and provide support for specific objectives. What they do, they do well. However, even though their focus may be strong, it’s narrow—and that’s their Achilles heel. In fact, in 2018, one leading marketing agency website posited that successful marketing agencies of the future would “look a whole lot more like consulting.”

Consulting is booming

As the market and client needs shift to focus on data, consulting firms are very well-positioned. While agencies execute on creative campaign strategy provided by their client, consulting firms create the strategy—as well as provide support in related areas, as shown in the table below.

A consulting firm is a package deal that, by design, works faster and has more resources available than an agency. Consulting firms are data experts, while agencies are playing catch up.

A real-world example

So, what does this look like in practice? At Logic20/20, we solve problems by combining expertise from across a wide variety of disciplines like marketing, technology, data analytics, and managed services. We pride ourselves on working smoothly and efficiently across our teams to deliver comprehensive yet simple solutions. Our projects rarely occupy just one practice area; instead, we use our breadth of knowledge to improve customer experience, empower users with data, and more.

Steve Sack is the Digital Marketing Practice Area Lead (PAL) at Logic20/20. He is a marketing expert and university instructor with more than 15 years of agency and in-house experience.