Integrating Agencies and Startups: How to Build Meaningful Connections for Brands

The era of digital disruption is the new reality for brands. The attention economy has fragmented, resulting in an ever-shifting flow of consumer segments. As such, the concept of the mainstream mass media audience is no longer viable.

Instead, brands need to cater to a multitude of niche audiences. At the same time, the rising number of platforms and publishers, has led to a steady increase in consumer destinations. Social media and mobile, in particular, drive the proliferation of screen usage.

Yet, given the trend of endless content creation, it has become more and more difficult for one brand to cut through the noise and sustain audience attention.To navigate the increasingly complex media and technology landscape, brands need to leverage constant innovation. There is no magic formula that leads to consumer engagement rather, it is the strategic investment in new solutions and ideas at scale to stay ahead of the curve.

It is crucial to develop a systematic innovation strategy with media partners to maintain agility and efficiency. Mixing innovation and scale is the core foundation of this strategy and requires the integration of partners that are seemingly at odds: agencies and startups.Startups are agile outsiders, able to evaluate the industry critically and determine effective solutions.

Yet, they lack reach and position in the industry. Agencies are the rulers of the inner circle, able to quickly execute global initiatives. But they are spread-out which can make it difficult to align all parts of the equation.

Together, however, they can modify their offerings to deliver next-gen services to brands. The key to success is collaboration yet, the relationships between agencies and startups can be complicated and immutable. To this end, it is important to develop an ongoing productive and self-reflective dialogue, grounded in a clear strategy with well-defined goals.

At 18 Hubs, we consistently strive to build meaningful connections with startups to grow innovative solutions, ideas, and activations within the global Havas network. Our work is driven by research, education, and strategy. It involves pushing boundaries, following unknown guidelines, and creating a new playbook.

To share this work with a global audience, 18 Hubs, together with Mobext, the mobile arm of Havas, organized a panel on the state of relationships between agencies and startups at this years Mobile World Congress. The goal of the panel was to create a virtuous circle of value for both sides and, by extension, brands.We were joined by three next-gen international startups from around the globe.

Factual, based in Los Angeles, is the steward of the worlds information and the biggest network on place data, specializing in optimizing audience targeting for brands. Aarki from San Francisco is a creative optimization player that designs cross-platform mobile engagement solutions. San Francisco startup YouAppi is a native mobile advertising platform that turns up the volume on big data.

Additionally, 18 Hubs conducted interviews with chief executives from a suite of high-profile startups, including Zealot Networks (premium content network), Influencer Studios (social influencer network), DGTL Advisors (new media industry consulting), Homage (video creation platform), and Reactful (audience listening solution).The value of startups for agencies is based in the agile ability to introduce new ideas and push new solutions. Given their external perspective, they are able to evaluate and optimize internal agency processes in order to create long-term benefits for brands.

They set the path through the world of new technology. Thomas Jorion, Head of 18 Hubs in Los Angeles, used the example of social media to show how an outside perspective can help brands rethink and rebuild their approach in this case, investing in multi-platform initiatives. At the same time, Thomas Jorion said that startups are often too focused on one vertical to see the larger context which is where the value of the agency comes in.

Yet, since startups tend to have limited resources, they need agencies to enter the playing field and test their visions in a larger context. Scale can quickly prove the viability of the service product, or unearth inherent difficulties that require a reconfiguration of the overall approach often resulting in pivoting. This potential for pivoting, in turn, applies to the overall agency business model as well.

Agencies have long followed a model that emphasizes a single ad format equals a single market CPM. Yet, given that the media landscape increasingly shifts to a social- and mobile-driven multi-platform economy (led by UX with new ad formats and pricing structures), this static approach may no longer be viable. Startups can help agencies approach this difficult, yet often necessary pivot.

Working with agencies is a crucial element of startup life to grow the value of their company and product and it equally applies to agencies given the ongoing shift toward a complex multi-platform economy. 18 Hubs gathered key insights that help better understand the needs of startups and how they can be better integrated into the everyday agency workflow.The core value agencies provide to startups is scale.

Agencies maintain long-standing relationships with brands based in trust and experience. Tomer Harry, CEO and Co-Founder of Homage, stated that agencies essentially act as the gateways for startups to work with brands. Jonathan Friedman, CEO and Co-Founder of Reactful, observed that this has a significant impact on the business of startups as they can generate a record amount of customers in a short amount of time.

Agencies should learn to be more nimble, to adapt faster to the market as mobile pure players are doing. Marco Rigon, Global Head of MobextAt the same time, agencies are often slow to move given their size. Cat Schwartz, CEO of DGTL Advisors, indicated that startups often have a difficult time implementing, or even communicating, new ideas.

This may be a result of long-existing practices or that startups are not yet considered an integral part of the overall agency structure. Paolo Moreno, Founder of Influencer Studios, a new network of the top social influencers in the world, similarly noted that agencies have built a massive, yet largely immovable empire of 30-second ads. Given the rapid shifts at the intersection of media and technology, this established approach takes time to be restructured from within.

Innovation does not only push against an existing workflow, it pushes against decades of established operating logic.Rob Jonas, SVP of Revenue at Factual, remarked on a recent shift in the agency workflow: Over the past two years, every part of the agency ecosystem has realized that moving faster is crucial. That creates a great opportunity.

However, it may not be advisable to equate speed with success. Agencies manage global or at least national and regional brand messaging which requires careful strategic planning. Reducing the agency-startup relationship to a matter of time may cloud other issues, such as differing work cultures, the development of mutual goals, and the focus on the brand value overall.

If the relationship works, agencies can help startups scale efficiently by providing an opportunity to generate the majority of their new business, according to Jeben Berg, Chief Marketing Officer of Zealot. Startups desire speed, but most are dedicated to building relationships over time to create a solid foundation at the onset.If media agencies can share more information and data with startups, that will help us cater to their needs.

Julie Ben-Nun, Vice President of Media Management at YouAppiSharing information and data needs to go both ways. As agencies open up to startups, they need to be more transparent about internal developments to maximize the value of startups in their operation. Otherwise, it is rather difficult to understand and leverage startup capabilities in an organic and meaningful way to drive engagement for brands.

Information sharing is the backbone of a successful relationship. If neither agencies nor startups are transparent about ideas and goals, the integration is likely to fail.Integrating startups through a structured and systematic approach is what should drive the long-term collaboration between the two parties.

As startups enter the global network of an agency, they need to be leveraged as a transversal, not just an isolated, resource. This involves an organic exchange of information. More pointedly, as Conn Fishburn, Chief Strategy Officer and Co-Founder of Zealot, expresses, it is based on an alignment of vision and the building of shared values.

Failing to bide by this basic rule is to jeopardize a multitude of opportunities to go beyond what is routine. Ultimately, it is this basic principle of meaningful connections that lies at the heart of the agency-startup relationship, and the best-possible value for brands in the new media and technology landscape.18Hubs is the innovation research facility of Havas Media, headquartered in Paris, with offices in Los Angeles, Seoul, and Tel Aviv.

Together, we are building a satellite network of innovation hubs to be 18 months ahead of new developments in the converging industries of media, culture, technology, and data science. In each office, we connect with established market leaders, first-rate universities, and startups.Written by Thomas Jorion and Matthias Stork RELATED QUESTION Which custom lighting design manufacturers would you choose to work with (as in, your preferred list of custom lighting design manufacturers for new projects, renovations, and/or construction of a new home and/or commercial property) and why?

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