MEDIA FORUM: Should creative agencies return to doing media?

A rash of creative agencies setting up in-house media divisions begs the question: who really benefits, clients or agency? Ian Darby reports.

They're all at it. Having helped to drive media out of the door in the quest for refinement of their service, many creative agencies now want it back.

Clemmow Hornby Inge entered a joint venture with Naked Communications, Naked Inside, to put media at the heart of what it does. And last week, TBWA\London founded TBWA\Connections, an in-house media division to be headed by the ZenithOptimedia executive director, Enyi Nwosu, in association with the sister agency Manning Gottlieb OMD.

But is this a case of the lunatics re-entering the asylum? Or are the real lunatics the ones at the reins of creative agencies desperate for new revenue streams? While believing that they can build a real understanding of communications planning, some believe that their obsession with lovingly crafted TV ads might get in the way.

Colin Gottlieb, the chief executive of OMD Europe and a founder of Manning Gottlieb, argues that the complete turnaround from full-service days has created problems for ad agencies. He says: 'This debate could stem from the whole era of full service and the subsequent unbundling The ad agency model is decades old and hasn't much changed. There was unbundling of the full-service model because of client pressure for greater accountability and effectiveness but also because of entrepreneurs who saw money in media.'

He argues that ad agencies no longer have the talent in-house to develop a communications plan at an early stage. So is it better for creative agencies to hire this talent themselves? 'I don't necessarily think it's a better way (than working closely with a media agency) but this is a business about people. Relationships (between creative and media agencies) are a lot less personal, which is a great sadness. If you ask an ad agency, they might say that they have great relationships with media companies, they trust them, but also know that the media companies have their own fish to fry. The ad agencies need somebody who is part of their own team and understands their culture.'

That said, Gottlieb has some words of criticism for ad agencies letting things get to this stage: 'They perhaps should have questioned why they need to bring people in when they could have done it themselves - many account planners started as media planners. But rather than train individuals for two or three years, agencies are now having to go out and hire them.'