Seth on the future of the ad agency

An interesting comment from Seth Godin on the future of the ad agency:

“What ad agencies ought to do, in my opinion, is not focus on selling ads anymore. And instead, focus on getting in deeper within the clients, and help the clients make products that people want to talk about."

"The problem is that ad agencies have defined themselves as the people who take the mediocre products and add interesting ads to them, and washed their hands and say, we can’t do anything about what the factory brings us. And my answer is, of course you can, and the clients actually want you to, you’re just not working hard enough to get that piece of business.”

Coincidentally, I was having a conversation yesterday with an ex planner/researcher who is now a recruitment consultant. He believes that the future for planners lies with innovation consultancies like IDEO ... they of course spend their time helping clients make products that people want to talk about.