Speech Summaries

Charlie Tarzian Chief Executive Officer Euro RSCG Circle

Marketing Track: The Great Debate: Who Owns The Integrated Marketing Campaign -- The Agency Or The Client?

Moderator: Jim Nail, Senior Analyst, Forrester Research

Jim Garrity, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Wachovia

Charlie Tarzian, Chief Executive Officer, Euro RSCG Circle

Jim Garrity started the debate by defining integrated marketing. Positivity and consistency are key for integrated marketing to work, but an ad agency cannot control everything -- it is not a one-stop shop. It could be a one-stop shop where leadership is concerned. There are not enough great integrated marketing firms out there, but it is something that can be achieved, if people in the industry stop looking at their counterparts and saying, "They can't do it." Ad agencies need to completely deconstruct themselves and rebuild; as long as there is separation, there will be no trust. Advertising is a race, and consumers are leading. And to get an edge in the race, we need to start working together and listening to one another. When the deconstruction of an agency takes place, everyone needs to be onboard so that one unified group can emerge.

In assessing whether creating a one-stop shop can work, Jim Garrity said that he had never seen it happen, and while Volvo is a good example of success, P&L compensation, egos, and agency politics seem to consistently sabotage true integration and collaboration. Charlie Tarzian's take on the same question is that the main problem is companies operating within and dealing with an old model, and all of the politics and egos are founded in this model. If this model was shed, then many of the issues that prohibit integration would also be shed.

Questions And Answers

Q: There is a need for specialization -- where is the line?

A: Jim: The agency can be seen as a key for bringing in specialized resources.

Q: Dos and Don'ts with reorganizing?

A: Jim: Be as transparent as you can and do it quickly. Charlie; When reorganizing, you should strip people of their disciplines, and when you pick and place your people, you want smart people first, disciplines second.

Q: How do you break the bureaucracy of silos?

A: Charlie: Top down, blowing things up is not a bad thing.

Q: How do we get un-tech-savvy managers to add URLs?

A: Charlie: You need to bring things in-house so you and your managers know what is going on. You also need to push your agency -- they hate metrics, so you need to push your agency to have them.