[Adforum Worldwide Summit] A day of more

Day four of the AdForum CEO Summit in NYC was a day of more. Not just more time in the bus travelling from agency to agency, and not just more eating and drinking and talking with more agencies, thought there was that. The agency meetings are definitely showing that the industry is about MORE. Doing MORE, influencing MORE, co-ordinating MORE and controlling MORE.

If the agencies are right, 2010 will be a year when agencies re-establish their capabilities and influence across all parts of the marketing mix. With the established agency networks heavily investing in specialist disciplines, especially retail activation to cover the "last 10 yards" or specialist segments such as marketing to children, multicultural segments such as the Hispanic and Islamic communities or vertically up into product/service innovation and down into all aspect of digital production.

The great variable is the approach the various agencies are taking.

While the emphasis on the IDEA is common to all, the interpretation of what is the IDEA varies. As quoted by one agency, who maintained it is not an agency, "Most agencies will say they are in the ideas business, but they are really in the communications business".

With Hakuhodo Tokyo's Gold Lion this year for K's Japan "Smash", a guitar that is designed to be destroyed, clearly agency ideas are moving beyond communications to products to position brands.

Meanwhile, the established networks and agencies have developed approaches to streamline the marketing communications process through collaboration and management of their various areas, divisions and specialist companies.

There was even a company which was established purely to develop and produce creative technology ideas for brands, other agencies and of course the consumer.

But the sum of all these investments, developments and efforts is that the industry is looking to provide marketers with more of what they want in the way that they want it.

The question is, are the marketers ready to pay for it as we come out of the financial crisis of the past two years?

For more, continue to check back on this blog or check out #adforumceosummit on Twitter for frequent updates.