Surfing around the internet, (mainly twitter), presents some weird, informative and wonderful things.  The majority of our time is spent keeping up to date with this ridiculously morphing industry.  Finding out what other agencies are doing on a global basis. How clients are dealing with these new media within their business processes, that kind of thing.

With all this talk of how the big agency world is adapting with these changes, it’s hard to discern what will work and what is being done to appease the stockholders of the big holding companies.  Most of it is extremely entertaining to read as being in the leadership position that we are in, allows the rare view of being able to predict if some of these initiatives will work.

Every once in awhile, I come across a great little tidbit that I can’t wait to share. Usually it is a game changing observation that you must know about as it is extremely important to you as you navigate the murky world of Modern Marketing.

Here it is:

It’s not the big agencies that worry me…

It’s these young whippersnappers that keep me up at night.

This all came from someone I follow on Twitter, @southsideadguy who happens to be the Program Chair and a Professor at Seneca College here in Toronto, (it’s a great program btw that deserves definite notice).  He mentioned that a recent group of his graduates decided to start an agency right after speaking with one of the few people I look up to in this industry, Scott Goodson of StrawberryFrog. Having met Scott and experienced his graciousness first hand, I can definitely see why.

These kids decided to carve their own destiny go the entrepreneurial route, which having done myself, I have to definitely commend, and wish them all the luck in the world.

Why this keeps me up at night is that the most fortunate thing that could happen to me is that I forgoed the traditional Agency upbringing that most in this industry have to go through.  As mentioned, I was an entrepreneur since I wa s 15 and learnt to use Marketing to actually sell things as opposed to the current status quo of using Marketing for self-promotion or to win awards.

This generation’s knowledge and understanding of the new media of communication is unmatched by most in the traditional ad agency infrastructure.  With a formal education taught by smart professors, as these students are, coupled with that knowledge, these students are in the ideal position to start an agency that would better address the changing landscape of  Modern Marketing that we live in.

They get how people communicate, they have keen sense of how to position the message correctly within the chosen medium and most importantly, because of the education, they know how to properly convey that process and execution to a potential client.  The only thing they are missing is the experience that comes with working in this industry. This is where the learning of how to deal with the internal politics of both a large and small company and the understanding of how to make marketing work for the client in not only from a communication point of view, but from the more important business perspective comes from.  It’s half or event three quarters of the battle.

It’s just a matter of time.

Case in point, check out this great awareness campaign that they ran locally in Toronto.
It’s great stuff.

Toronto Cyclists Union Thanks Drivers from switchvertising.com on Vimeo.

I wish them luck and look forward to seeing what they do next.

Cheers
Z