Most agencies play the game like they are the Miami Heat. There is LeBron. There is D Wade. And there is a cast of 10 other active players, all of whom are charged with the task of getting the “W” for the team. This is the typical agency model where the “creative department” sits at the center and everyone else is supporting cast. They can wipe the floor down. They can hand Bron Bron a towel or pass him the rock during warm-ups. But once the whistle blows and the game starts, there is no place on the court for anyone without a jersey.
Although ubiquitous, this way of playing the game is antiquated. The agency of the future will have to adopt a new model. One that recognizes creative genius inside of each and every employee and designs ways to extract that brilliance from across the organization so that they can put it to use on behalf of their paying clients. If there was ever an industry where it makes sense to adopt the notion that everyone is creative, it’s the “creative industry,” where organizations literally live and die based on their ability to deliver fresh thinking into the marketplace.
You can keep betting your organization’s existence on 20% of the talent base if you want, but the agencies that thrive in the new economy will be the ones that realize that, as valuable as LeBron and D Wade are to the team, at the end of the day, we all need jerseys.
Detavio Samuels, Changing The Status Of The Quo