The drive for purpose among brands is bringing marketing and consulting closer together, especially in the digital arena, said David Lockie, founder of digital agency Pragmatic.
“Marketing strategy is coalescing with overall business and brand strategy. We’re starting to see those conversations happening,” Lockie told Velocitize Talks. “How can we align those two to be far more powerful with our communications. I think that trend is going to massively accelerate and needs to.”
Business is filling a “vacuum of responsibility” that used to be filled by government and NGOs, to build a community, said Lockie. The future of brands is in “a more multifactor engagement…far more of a conversation: ‘yes, we can solve a need.’”
Marketing agencies like Pragmatic are preparing for the “existential challenge of today’s digital agencies” to become part of the core business strategy, instead of a marketing sideline, said Lockie. Agencies have to look beyond the digital space and look for ways to apply their capabilities beyond marketing, he said.
“I’ve often felt being a digital agency is undervalued,” said Lockie. “The impact we can have can be more strategic.”
Clients’ expectations have also changed drastically, and these are dramatically important times for digital agencies, said Lockie: “We’re essentially talking about a new economy, a truly digital economy.”
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