I just read a great article by Ben Wiener, CEO of WongDoddy, on how to tell if an ad agency has really embraced digital.

He basically identified 6 criteria that can let a client know if an ad agency is for real when they say they do digital:

• They have a track record of active participation in digital conferences (such as SXSW, OMMA, and Ad:Tech)
• They have director-level or higher technology leader on staff (not an IT guy)
• They have full-time, in-house development resources (front-end and back-end developers on staff, not outsourced)
• They have digital-only clients or large Website development projects under their belt
• In addition to Account Planners, they have the digital equivalent, such as User Experience leads
• They have analytics staff (dedicated) and have invested in marketing analytics software tools

I whole-heartedly agree with Mr. Wiener’s assessment, and would take it a step further. True digital advertising capabilities require:

• In-house digital creative production capabilities (e.g. Flash programmers)
• Information Architecture and/or Content Strategy disciplines within their agency
• Client social media program expertise (concepting, developing and managing social media initiatives for clients) – and no, creating a Facebook page doesn’t cut it.

I could make a longer, more detailed list of capabilities I feel are critical to truly be digital, but I think these cover it broadly.

This entry is filed under Flash / Flex Technologies, Social Media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

• Tweets that mention Digital posers | -- Topsy.com says:

  January 21, 2011 at 3:32 pm

  [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Sensis, Danny Allen. Danny Allen said: RT @sensisagency: More on digital posers http://ht.ly/3I7wW #advertising [...]