‘Egos need to be checked’: A Digiday+ town hall with Ogilvy & Mather’s Lauren Crampsie

Here’s what you missed from our conversation with Crampsie.

Consultancies can’t be agencies
“The best agencies have always been consultants. We start and end with our clients’ business issues, period. [Consultancies] never started and ended with execution. Consultants do incredible work at diagnosing business problems; that’s their heritage. But they do not have expertise in how to translate those problems into tangible, executable communications.”

Consumer choice is where agencies can find a purpose
“Many people talk about the complexity and fragmentation of the marketing landscape, which is all important to look at, but what I think about more is the complexity of competition in products and services. With more and more disruptors in the marketplace, there will be more and more choices for consumers, and this is where ‘brand’ will play a larger role than ever. The agencies that can understand the totality of the brand purpose and ecosystem, then how that marries directly to an intimate consumer experience will be the ones that win. But those agencies have to know what they can do well and where they need help. Egos need to be checked. Clients need to come first, and collaborators will be key for agencies.”

Relationships need work
“The media and creative agency relationships [need work]. I don’t think anyone can say in a debundled world that they’ve cracked it. We are focusing more and more of our client relationships on deep collaboration with our media partners; it’s all strategy by execution — no decks on how we should be working more together with Venn diagrams, just actually going out there and doing it. If we break an egg here or there, so be it. But ultimately, it will result in the best possible brand and media ROI for our clients.”