Achieving Strategic Digital Integration: Views From Experienced New York City Advertising Agency Professionals

Abstract

The advertising agency environment is changing and requires agencies to deal with many communications opportunities in emerging platforms. Many concepts from IMC (e.g., the importance of data-driven targeting and integrated communication across disciplinary boundaries) have carried forward to the digital era. While academic literature has begun to examine the impact of digital technology on communication practice, the function of traditional full-service advertising agencies within the digital, social, and experiential communication environment remains under-examined. This study employs a qualitative paradigmatic perspective to address the following research question: What are experiences with and perceptions of strategic digital integration among veteran advertising professionals who work in New York City full-service agencies? Eighteen advertising agency professionals who held supervisory positions were interviewed to gain a longer-term perspective on experiences with strategic digital integration. All participants were employees of major, full-service NYC advertising agencies as they would likely work with sophisticated national and multi-national marketers. Three key insights emerged from data collection: (1) planning departments are changing, (2) there are many opportunities and threats to strategic digital integration, and (3) the continued importance of the “big idea” as the heart of the advertising business. Overall, participants from the NYC agencies do not suggest that advertising is dying, rather they portray it as an evolving industry leveraging the new promises of digital platforms through better strategic integration.