The battle lines have been drawn. The super powers have been amassing their arsenal of resources. Now, the front lines are engaging. The battle for ultimate control of a brand has begun between the 20th century traditional agency and the 21st century interactive agency.

I’m being over-dramatic here but the battle is real and it’s becoming more apparent. Obviously I am going to be biased but don’t trust my opinion on why interactive agencies can outperform traditional. Let’s see what the latest finding are.

• A recent Forrester survey of 100 global interactive marketers revealed that 46% of these marketers DO NOT believe their traditional agencies can properly plan and manage interactive marketing activities. Only 23% believe that they can. 22% believed that digital agencies can lead their brand.
• Companies that have recently selected interactive agencies to be the main “agency of record” to lead their brand include; McAfee, California Bank & Trust, Ameriprise Financial, Autodesk, Ask.com and others.

So finally we, the interactive agencies are winning some battles and it’s about time. I’ve had the experience of working with many large traditional agencies on projects, sat in meetings, been to their offices and time and time again, I find the people clueless when it comes to a new paradigm of marketing strategy. And when it comes to showing results, many of these people are blown away by the data we are able to provide with our solutions which maybe I just take for granted but to me it’s just a “duh” moment.

So game on! I’m ready to kick ass this year. We’re prime for this war as we have positioned ourselves six years ago as a full-service interactive agency in Orange County that combines strategy, technology and creativity. This allows us to create true immersive brand experiences that transcend communication mediums. I predict 2010 will be a great year interactive agencies.

K5VWDYNBEYMU