The Agency of the Future with John Bottom

Through the Line with Andy Bargery

What does the agency of the future look like? That's what I wanted to know from John Bottom, an experienced agency pro and a very nice chap to boot. Shortly after the credit crunch in 2008, I had the idea of launching a marketing agency built on a network model. Like many agency professionals, I had worked for a large holding group agency and saw an opportunity to strike out on my own. But I didn't want all of the overhead attached to growing a brick-and-mortar "full-service agency". So I banded together all of the other ex-big agency marketers I knew, liked and trusted to create a networked agency. It worked well for a time, with my core team of marketing managers pulling in expertise for client challenges as and when required. Fast forward a decade, and I no longer run an agency this way. But there's still an appetite for it, as John Bottom argues, in how to run an agency fit for the 21st century. There's space at the table for agile, transparent agency teams structured around where the talent is and not where the agency wants them to be. If you are planning your agency's strategy for growth, you'll enjoy listening to John's perspective. Maybe you could be more flexible, open and honest with your clients about how you will deliver great marketing.