I thought that this story was a little humorous, though clearly it wasn't intended as such. Here are the points of my case; bear with me, I'll draw a connection:
Basically, Organic is forming a new business unit "designed to fill the void between client strategy and agency execution." Their CEO Mark Kingdon said, "Historically, the weight was a lot more on execution, not strategy." So, my interpretation is that, before, they were simply doing, rather than thinking.
Now, based on this need to fill the void, they are separating this function into a "new business unit." Therefore, Organic will continue to execute rather than think and this business unit will think for the client. Interesting.
Now, the other part that is interesting, based on the errors of their past, who are they going to bring in to staff this new unit? "To staff the projects, Organic is drawing on its existing personnel, including emerging platforms executive director Chad Stoller, media executive director Rick Corteville and vp, strategy James Kim."
Big shift. Big change. Basically, put the "strategy" in a pile over here; send the "execution" elsewhere.
I will agree that a lot of so-called agencies out there have tended to focus on the "made to order" philosophy. A client provides the structure and they build without questions. This has certainly put a damper on clients who were willing to trust these agencies with an online campaign; they look back and now realize that they were missing a strategy. I also agree that someone needs to advise clients on the best course of action for their online dollars rather than just build Flash replicas of print ads. Organic, I think, has the right concept here; it would just seem like they should have been doing this all along.
Posted by Reid
10:25 AM
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