It’s been a year of micro-shifts; a plethora of small adaptations to things like messaging, channel engagement, and split-second decisions driven by social forces, political leanings, and of course, the pandemic.

What’s beginning to emerge from these shifts, however, is a macro view of how these things are adding up to permanently change how brands view their communications and, consequently, how they work with agency partners.

The easiest to parse is the value of agility – and the resulting trend away from larger networked agencies that are unable to deliver on it.

Of course this kind of flexibility was crucial in the early days of COVID, but with the news cycle continuing to move at the speed of Twitter, it’s a quality that will only become more valuable as messaging challenges continue to evolve into the new year and beyond.

Domino’s is the latest brand to embrace the renewed emphasis on nimble boutique agencies, announcing this week that they’re making a switch to independent shop WorkInProgress as AOR, citing “flexibility and nimbleness” as the driving factors behind the change.

The larger the agency, the more red tape exists to get projects out the door. And as 2020 has proven, volatile times don’t allow for this kind of lag in ideation, development, and deployment.

We wrote an article a few years ago called “The Big Agency Disadvantage”, and while November ‘18 feels like a lifetime ago at this point, a lot of what we wrote then continues to ring just as true today, if not moreso.

“Big agencies might work well (some of the time) for bigger marketing clients. But even bigger marketing clients are exploring the increased use of specialty firms to plug the holes when big agencies are simply incapable of stepping up and helping out.”

Unfortunately, the pandemic has created an uptick in holes to be plugged, and as budgets and headcounts shrink across the industry, nimble independent agencies have emerged as a cost-effective, creative, and yes, nimble solution to the new messaging normal.

We have a database of more than 10,000 marketing agencies, many of which offer the flexibility that comes with being a small- to mid-sized independent firm.

If your brand is best-suited for a nimble agency that can help you adapt as needs shift, give us a call and we can help you find the best partner, at no cost to you, the marketer.

Give us a call (513-559-3101) or drop us a line (msneider@rswagencysearch.com)