The global marketing services industry is worth in excess of a trillion dollars; the top five players alone directly employ over 300,000 people and have collective revenues in excess of $50 billion.

The UK market has over 7,000 agencies, all vying to work with the same top 1,000 brands. The business model they operate is simple; get the big brands, sell them big ideas and generate big bucks. However, with such fierce competition generated by the abundance of choice and marketing channels, the model is being tested to its very limit.

The economic situation businesses now operate in has placed an overwhelming importance on return on investment every cent spent on marketing needs to work hard. A wise marketer once said that 50% of his marketing budget was effective, but he didnt know which half. Today, such comments would be deemed unacceptable, but yet they remain to be murmured. There are simply too many agencies all doing their own thing!

The needs of the brands have changed, the consumer is more complex and the market we operate in is becoming increasingly more fragmented with every day that passes. Agency 3.0 is designed to provide clarity to the marketing communications industry and acting as a voice of reason for the agency industry and for the brands which fuel it.

Brands and agencies have never been mutually exclusive; but are increasingly growing apart. Agency 3.0 will provide a framework for long-term partnerships and survival.

Having been in the industry for over 15 years, Ive worked on well over five hundred brands. The numerous changes the industry has seen in the past five years have been more radical than any change of the past 100. Brands and agencies are continually looking for new ways to ignite the consumer and increase market share. The pace of change has been so rapid that neither brands nor agencies have had a chance to step back and reflect on what is working and whats not.

I speak to brand owners everyday the reoccurring message Im hearing is that weve moved so fast as an industry that many of the most important things about working with an agency are slipping. Margin-pressure on agencies has never been more important, while the demands on the agency from the client have never been so significant a few clients and agencies alike have responded well to the new market conditions, but the vast majority of them havent.

Some big decisions lie in wait for agency heads and owners including agency structures, services offered (disciplines), the role of creativity, payment models and the talent working on the brands business.

With this in mind, Ive decided to carry out a global study to uncover what exactly brands want from agencies. As part of my research Ive interviewed 75 of the most influential brands (with marketing spend in excess of $10bn) to ask first hand and candidly whats working and what isnt. What does the agency world need to do more of and be better at? In addition to this, an online survey has been conducted to provide us with an additional quantitative view.