RZ Gartner Reprint

4/20/2016 Gartner Reprint
http://www.gartner.com/doc/reprints?id=131OP1B3&ct=160322&st=sb 1/31
LICENSED FOR
DISTRIBUTION
(http://www.gartner.com/home)
Magic Quadrant for Global Digital Marketing Agencies
22 March 2016 | ID:G00273473
Analyst(s): Jay Wilson, Martin Kihn, Jennifer Polk, Simon J. Yates
Summary
As marketing leaders are handed more responsibility — for transformative business
strategies, differentiated customer experiences and revenue generation — they often seek
agency support in achieving their goals.
Market Definition/Description
This document was revised on 24 March 2016. The document you are viewing is the
corrected version. For more information, see the Corrections
(http://www.gartner.com/technology/about/policies/current_corrections.jsp) page on
gartner.com.
This Magic Quadrant focuses on global digital marketing agencies that are strategically and
creatively led.
The definition of a global digital marketing agency has become amorphous. The "digital"
qualifier has fallen away — digital marketing is now marketing in a digital world. In this world,
traditional agencies with "Madison Avenue pedigrees" compete with technology providers and
management consultants to become the chief marketing officer's (CMO's) most-trusted
strategic advisor and tactical executioner.
For this year's Magic Quadrant, we looked at firms that focus on strategizing, creating,
executing and measuring customer‐facing digital experiences across the customer journey.
For consideration, providers needed to demonstrate an ability to deliver comprehensive
strategic services, creative and content services, technology implementation, measurement,
and analytics — and a close alignment with the marketing needs of global brands, whose
leaders seek those specific competencies when choosing a marketing service partner.
Magic Quadrant
Figure 1. Magic Quadrant for Global Digital Marketing Agencies

Source: Gartner (March 2016)
Vendor Strengths and Cautions
Accenture Interactive
Accenture Interactive is a Visionary with continued impressive growth. It participates in many
of the same pitches as Leaders in this evaluation, and it continues to build its capabilities,
particularly in digital commerce and customer experience — two areas experiencing high
demand. Accenture Interactive counts UBS, Meliá Hotels International and Celebrity Cruises
as key clients.
STRENGTHS

Digital commerce: Accenture Interactive earns a significant portion of its revenue from
digital commerce initiatives, forging strong relationships with partners such as SAP Hybris,
which named it Global Partner of the Year for two years running. Additional investments,
like the acquisition of European commerce firm Brightstep in 2015, add to Accenture
Interactive's capabilities.
Large-scale, long-term client relationships: With multiyear, multimillion dollar contracts
strengthened by C-level client relationships, Accenture Interactive's engagements tend to be
long term and strategically focused. As such, it's less prone to the cyclical churn of clients
that characterizes much of the marketing service landscape, enabling investment in people,
process and technology — a traditional weak spot for many agencies.
Collaboration: Clients laud Accenture Interactive for its collaborative ability to address
business challenges and assimilate into client culture — no small task for a firm with strong
consulting roots. While Accenture Interactive's processes are viewed as rigid, its staff wins
praise for ensuring that processes work within the context of a client's organization. Clients
surveyed indicate that this collaborative approach — apparent during the pitch process —
continues through to delivery.
CAUTIONS
Consistent staffing and quality assurance: Some clients surveyed for this research
reported inconsistent quality of staffing and issues with quality assurance that required
attention.
Creative services: Accenture Interactive's creative capabilities are growing but aren't yet
viewed by clients as on par with market Leaders. It has yet to win significant industry
recognition for creative leadership — most of its awards are for technology successes.
AKQA
AKQA (part of WPP) remains a Leader. The firm is known for innovative digital brand
experiences and multichannel marketing campaigns, particularly for automotive, travel and
retail clients. Campaigns are fueled by AKQA's creative leadership, content strategy and
programmatic media capabilities. While AKQA offers traditional and digital marketing
services, the agency now focuses as much on upstream services, like experience design and
business transformation. With the 2015 acquisition of H-Art in Italy and a new office in
Gothenburg, Sweden, the firm's global footprint is growing.
STRENGTHS
Experience design: AKQA is adept at experience design initiatives that fundamentally
change how customers engage with brands. For example, it created IDx for Nissan,
enabling consumers to configure cars using Oculus Rift goggles. The firm also created an
acclaimed Dyson 360 Eye brand experience featuring a mobile application and connection
to the Internet of Things (IoT).

Business transformation: AKQA leads "Ignition" sessions with clients, bridging the gap
between marketing and technology to create platforms for growth. One example was the
F1 Access platform for Formula One, a subscription-based service for racing superfans,
allowing them to view real-time data on the driver and car performance during races, which
generated a new revenue stream for the brand.
Expanded data analytics: AKQA grew its data and analytics capabilities in 2015, adding
skilled staff and creating personalized, data-driven storytelling to boost campaign results
for clients like Nike.
CAUTIONS
Global reach: Global revenue is concentrated in North America and Western Europe. While
AKQA has a global presence, its financial results don't show significant revenue or growth in
key regions, such as Asia/Pacific.
Turning data analysis into insight: Client references cite issues with AKQA's analytics and
insights. While AKQA has added talent and tools, clients struggle with strategic oversight
around back-end reporting, as well as its articulation of data insights and analysis.
Cognizant
Cognizant is a new entrant and a Niche Player. Cognizant has growing marketing capabilities
in all industries, and it is very strong in financial services and healthcare, which account for
the majority of its 2015 revenue. In 2014, Cognizant acquired several agencies that deepened
its expertise and client roster. These agencies include Cadient, a digital marketing agency
serving the healthcare industry; TriZetto, a healthcare software company; and Odecee, a
technology company in the Australia/New Zealand region with expertise and clients in the
financial services, insurance, healthcare, logistics and communications industries.
STRENGTHS
Advanced analytic capabilities: Cognizant adroitly implements advanced analytics to
inform brand experience design, and develops Web and mobile apps to enable digital
commerce and transform business strategy.
Industry-specific technology: Cognizant leads with innovations that can be applied across
multiple industries, including personalization (HealthActivate and targetSERV), experiential
marketing (Immerse), and an insights and analytics platform (Reveal).
Expert client service: Cognizant's clients cite the firm's proactive thinking, responsiveness,
flexibility and integration — both internally and with client teams — which is especially
important as digital marketing engagements grow in complexity and expand into other
parts of the business.
CAUTIONS

Lacking creative leadership: Cognizant has a data-intensive approach to solving
challenges and a background in technology, backed by continued focus on hiring
candidates with IT experience. However, it lacks creative leadership relative to competitors.
Prescribed mindset: Clients cite Cognizant as "doing what was requested." While this
approach may work within conservative industries like healthcare and financial services,
marketing leaders increasingly expect an agency to challenge their thinking.
Deloitte Digital
Deloitte Digital is a Challenger this year. Building on its data and analytics expertise — and a
highly integrated relationship with Deloitte's other capabilities — the firm continues to grow.
New customer acquisition was strong in 2015, with more than 100 client additions to an
already healthy roster that includes Pepsi and Toyota. With a staff of more than 6,300,
Deloitte Digital also acquired several firms in 2015: Swedish agency Mobiento helped
establish an operational beachhead in the Nordic region, LRA Worldwide provided customer
experience measurement, and Stratosfera and Digital One in Poland opened markets in
Eastern Europe.
STRENGTHS
Business transformation expertise: Deloitte Digital's references laud the agency's ability to
offer specific strategic, technical and business transformation expertise across a wide
range of industries. The firm has a huge base of business consulting clients to provide
insight into the business and marketing transformation needs of the market.
Quantitative rigor: Deloitte Digital is well-known for its expertise in marketing analytics,
media mix and attribution modeling. Deloitte Digital's clients note increasing capabilities in
customer experience, digital commerce, and multichannel marketing built on analytical and
results-oriented methodologies.
Partner relationships and recognition: With such a diverse and distributed client base,
Deloitte Digital requires deep and broad technology partnerships. The firm boasts a strong
list of platform partners like Adobe, Google, Oracle and SAP — along with analytics-based
partners like Medallia and Nielsen, and innovation partners like Singularity University.
CAUTIONS
Creative credentials: Although Deloitte Digital reports that it has made some key hires and
investments in the past year to fortify its creative capabilities, it continues to compete
head-on with Leaders with stronger and more frequent competitive mentions. Reference
clients submitted by all agencies report considering Deloitte Digital only about one-third as
often as Leaders for creatively led agency engagements .
Consulting-based culture: Building on its business consulting and system integration
legacy, Deloitte Digital excels in applying repeatable methodologies to projects — which is a
strength and a challenge. Clients report challenges with global communication and

coordination, as well as with moving resources across projects .
DigitasLBi
DigitasLBi (part of Publicis Groupe) moves into the Leaders quadrant for the first time by
supplementing its data-driven rigor with renewed strategic and creative heft. As competitors
step up their strategic consulting capabilities, DigitasLBi is keeping pace with its vision of
"Networked Brands," its channel-agnostic approach to building meaningful customer
experiences.
STRENGTHS
Networked Brands: DigitasLBi pioneered data-driven targeting and measurement before it
was in vogue, but it lacked the vision or capability to transform brands. Through
investments in talent and strategic partnerships, DigitasLBi proves it can orchestrate those
assets to drive world-class business transformation. Its "Every Day, Care" campaign for
Whirlpool embodies this approach.
Strategic partnerships: In addition to its significant investment in its proprietary IDIOM
behavioral data platform, DigitasLBi has strong relationships with technology partners like
Oracle, Adobe and SAP Hybris; data and analytics partners like Rentrak, xAd and comScore;
and content publishers like Vice and BuzzFeed. It continues to focus on diversity and
inclusion partnerships with the likes of Girls Who Code and The 3% Conference.
Media savvy: While many digital agencies rely on network partners for media planning and
buying, DigitasLBi keeps that expertise in-house, resulting in four Adweek Media Plan Of
The Year honors for its Taco Bell and American Express work.
CAUTIONS
Ability to execute: DigitasLBi historically takes on complex marketing challenges as a lead
agency. As its vision expands, the Ability to Execute on that vision is met with mixed
reviews by clients. While clients rank DigitasLBi second only to SapientNitro in terms of the
complexity of challenges it takes on, its Ability to Execute solutions against those
challenges is viewed as inconsistent.
Creative: DigitasLBi is viewed by some clients as more strategically focused and data-
focused, which may impede creative excellence. Indeed, DigitasLBi ranks significantly lower
than its peers in the Leaders quadrant in terms of creativity.
FCB
FCB (formerly Draftfcb) is a Challenger. FCB has a background in consumer advertising and
behavioral data-driven marketing. It continues to focus on delivering brand strategy, content
and execution to both drive behavior change and impact client business.
STRENGTHS

Global investments: FCB is investing in its business across global markets. It appointed a
new management team to FCB Greater China, and it continues to improve its creative
products in the Indian market. FCB also recently rebranded FCB South Africa to FCB Africa
to expand business beyond South Africa's borders.
Shopper engagement services: FCB has a legacy in services like shopper marketing, and it
is extending its capabilities to design and execute experiences that engage shoppers
across online and offline touchpoints. This is increasingly important to the retailer and
other industries that maintain a physical presence.
New business wins: With several major wins in the last year, including the global account
for Levi's and BMW in the U.K. (which left a creative agency relationship dating back nearly
40 years), FCB is proving its mettle. It's also leveraging its network, winning Bank of
Montreal in Toronto through the partnership between its Montreal and Chicago offices, as
well as winning the Volkswagen business in Shanghai.
CAUTIONS
Service integration: Clients are demanding tighter integration of FCB's offerings, which led
FCB Toronto to combine its digital and brand teams into one strategy department, and
could lead to reorganization in other FCB offices to address client demands.
Digital transformation: FCB is lesser-known for business strategy, digital transformation or
user experience design — service offerings that competitors are focusing on and that
marketers are increasingly expecting from their agencies.
Havas Worldwide
Havas Worldwide, a Niche Player, is a global agency network with about 11,000 employees in
75 countries. Clients include Durex, Air France and TD Ameritrade, which came onboard to
leverage Havas Worldwide's customer experience expertise. The agency focused on
management, creative and innovation hires in 2015, and continues to work to strengthen the
cohesion of its network.
STRENGTHS
Global scale: Havas Worldwide boasts a strong global network, and it continues to invest in
international leadership for its management and creative teams, particularly in Europe and
Asia/Pacific. It launched a specialist digital unit, Ecselis, in the U.K. to forge tighter bonds
among media, data and creative.
Strategy and integration: In selecting Havas Worldwide as its agency of record in 2016,
Moen cited Havas Worldwide's strategic insights and ability to assimilate to its culture.
Account management: Client references mention the agency's hands-on account
management as a differentiator.
CAUTIONS

Brand recognition and cohesion: Despite Havas Worldwide's size and scale, clients rarely
mention it as being among their agency consideration set. Its global network may suffer
from historically siloed units that lack strong brand connection with the larger organization.
Culture and creativity : Havas Worldwide recognizes its recent weaknesses in creative
innovation and leadership, which are at least partially due to its networked operating model.
According to CEO Andrew Benett, the agency is addressing this by creating 35 "Havas
Villages" across the network to bring together its various disciplines in one location and
improve collaboration.
IBM Interactive Experience
IBM Interactive Experience (IBM iX) is a Leader, with more than 10,000 staff worldwide. It was
recognized by Advertising Age (Ad Age) as the world's largest digital agency network in 2015.
IBM's global footprint, sector-speciﬁc technology expertise and Design Thinking approach to
customer-centric marketing make IBM iX a formidable competitor to more traditional
agencies that it meets during the pitch process.
STRENGTHS
Customer-ﬁrst approach: IBM iX delivers solutions to CMOs who are increasingly tasked
with differentiating their products through improved customer experience. The Design
Thinking approach starts with the customer and comes to life through experiences that
solve problems for customers while driving business results. Its partnership with the
Atlanta Falcons to transform the fans' experiences at the new Atlanta stadium (scheduled
to open in 2017) should be of interest to entertainment and retail brands.
Digital commerce and emerging technologies: With long-standing expertise in digital
commerce, IBM iX focuses strongly on advanced marketing organizations. IBM Watson's
cognitive capabilities are increasingly relevant to marketers that want to understand and
predict consumer behavior, and IBM's ongoing acquisitions of software providers like
StrongLoop foresee the impact of IoT on IBM iX's marketing clients.
Creative momentum: Through strategic hires, IBM iX is improving client perceptions of its
creative capabilities, which we noted as a Caution in the previous year's Magic Quadrant.
IBM iX has recently acquired three independent agencies noted for their creative
capabilities. Client references rank creative highly at IBM iX, eclipsing some agencies
traditionally viewed as creative strongholds.
CAUTIONS
Cost of service: Although IBM iX offers a range of pricing alternatives and serves a broad
range of clients of various sizes, segments and industries, its services are primarily priced
and structured for large-enterprise clients. Even clients with large budgets noted the need
to justify the premium price point internally.

Technology partnerships: Because of IBM iX's roots in technology, clients have historically
noted that the agency is quick to recommend IBM technology solutions. However, IBM iX
demonstrates that it is rapidly adding to its roster of technology partnerships in an effort to
offer clients the right solution based on their needs.
iCrossing
iCrossing (part of Hearst) is a Leader with expertise in performance media, along with a
growing presence in user experience design, technology development and advanced
analytics. It maintains a mission of "unleashing potential," with an emphasis on engagement
through the use of data, design, content and technology. iCrossing notably offers a
proprietary "strategy, development and activation framework" under the metaphor of "Brand
OS." Many of its deepest client relationships, including LG and Toyota, focus on technology
services; iCrossing provides consultative technical strategy, development and
implementation, in addition to creative services.
STRENGTHS
Specialized technologies: iCrossing built its own in-house version of a data management
platform for marketing and advertising, called the "Starscape Data Platform." This gives
clients access to a managed tool for data integration and audience discovery, as well as
integrations with execution partners, such as Facebook Exchange and Lotame. (However,
clients should demand flexible deployment and contract terms to avoid lock-in.)
Performance marketing prowess: With its roots as a leading search engine marketing
shop, iCrossing takes a results-oriented approach to marketing and advertising programs
that resonate with performance marketers.
Content-driven customer engagement: As part of a content and media company, iCrossing
has greater depth and facility than competitors in the creation of compelling, shareable
content for clients such as TD Bank and Avon.
CAUTIONS
Creative and strategic services: Although delivering interesting creative ideas for clients,
such as Voya's "Born to Save" campaign, iCrossing is not noted for its above-the-line brand-
building expertise. Clients give it relatively lower scores for creative and strategic services,
indicating it has work to do to be seen as a go-to partner for breakthrough ideas.
Media ties: Although integrated with media providers outside of Hearst, iCrossing naturally
touts its parent as a benefit, particularly its use of proprietary data from 300 million users
on Hearst's global digital properties. On the other hand, tight ties between media buying
and selling agents always raise the potential for conflicts, which clients should scrutinize.
Isobar

Isobar (part of Dentsu) is a Leader. Having overcome the challenges it faced during its
network's consolidation of digital units, Isobar now delivers a unified brand and service to its
clients. As a function of its more than 70 local offices, Isobar services a larger percentage of
smaller and midsize businesses, along with Fortune 500 clients, than do many of its
competitors.
STRENGTHS
Global reach, and diverse services and customers: Headquartered in London, Isobar's
global footprint is impressive, with revenue balanced across North America (25%), Latin
America (13%), EMEA (32%) and Asia/Pacific (30%). Marketers engage Isobar nearly
equally for strategy, creative, technology, media (in Brazil and China), campaign
management and digital commerce.
Client satisfaction: Nearly across the board — from strategy through creative, data and
analytics — Isobar's clients ranked the agency highly. Clients lauded Isobar's transparency,
flexibility and organizational listening skills, which seem to permeate from management
down to the front lines. Isobar's 95% client retention rate reflects those strengths.
Innovation: With a solid network of partnerships, including Adobe, Amazon, SAP Hybris and
Demandware, Isobar wins client kudos for its technical expertise, without sacrificing
creativity. It serves as the digital agency of record with Lego, a marketing innovation
exemplar, in the U.S. Isobar's development of the Chevrolet CoDriver virtual reality program
is indicative of the agency's innovative approach.
CAUTIONS
Ability to adapt: Isobar is agile and fast-moving, and it has developed rigorous processes to
scale its program execution. Clients mentioned challenges in Isobar's ability to work with
internal resources and client partner companies that move at a different pace or that
adhere to different processes.
Brand recognition: Perhaps because it targets clients beyond the CMO organization, often
selling straight into the CEO and CIO roles, Isobar is less frequently mentioned by its
competitors as a threat, and it isn't frequently mentioned by those competitors' clients as
part of their consideration set.
Mirum
Mirum, part of the J. Walter Thompson Company (JWT), enters the Magic Quadrant this year
as a Visionary. It boasts a sizable staff of 1,880 dedicated to digital marketing business
services across North America, Latin America, Western Europe and Asia/Pacific. Mirum's
services focus on business transformation, marketing innovation and commerce — what it
calls "the intersection of creative and technology." The firm has an impressive client list and
long-standing relationships, including HSBC, Qualcomm and MasterCard, as well as newer
customers, such as Asus, Dubai Tourism, and Johnson & Johnson.
STRENGTHS

STRENGTHS
Customer experience (CX) and user experience (UX) design expertise: Customer
references cite CX and UX design skills — and deep development and technology expertise
— as reasons for using Mirum. The firm's technology expertise is supported by strong
creative and digital commerce capabilities that appeal to brands delivering digital
experiences into local markets.
Innovation leadership: Combined creative and technical skills allow Mirum and its clients
to push the marketing innovation envelope. Examples include insurer Manulife's
ManulifeMOVE program (customers wear fitness trackers and synchronize them with the
ManulifeMOVE mobile app to be rewarded for healthy living choices); and Soundcheck, an
original content platform partnership between Walmart and Unilever.
Speed and consistent quality: Mirum's references point to the firm's speed and consistent
quality. With its sizable staff, Mirum can dedicate resources to get projects done right and
on time.
CAUTIONS
The challenge of scale: Despite Mirum's large staff, the technical and creative talent
required to sustain a cutting-edge image is hard to find and expensive to retain. The agency
continues to expand globally by building and extending current client relationships, which
may impede other firms' ability to buy its services.
Narrow focus: Mirum's clients look for specific, creative project engagements that drive
purchase. As such, the firm risks being labeled as a "specialist" agency and missing out on
opportunities to grow its business in more mainstream projects.
MRM//McCann
MRM//McCann, a Challenger, has more than 3,200 employees worldwide (almost 2,000 are
outside of North America). That said, the company reports that North American business
represents about 60% of its revenue. MRM//McCann focuses on "creating connected
experiences throughout the customer journey," attracting clients seeking digital models that
use customer experience and the empowered consumer as central themes. Recent
acquisitions include e-commerce service/solution provider Optaros, enabling MRM//McCann
to connect clients' customer experiences with digital commerce transactions.
STRENGTHS
Data and creative: Clients laud MRM//McCann's commitment to measurement
methodology. This year, clients also note the firm's top creative talent — an improvement
from their feedback last year. All clients surveyed plan to maintain or increase their
investment in MRM//McCann in 2016.
Customer centricity: Clients appreciate MRM//McCann's process of unearthing the context
of customer journeys, which helps define successful "moments that matter." Together with
the firm's focus on measurement and innovation, this process consistently delivers

customer-centric marketing.
Production capacity: MRM//McCann is an integrated global agency with offices throughout
the Americas, Europe and Asia/Pacific, including two offshore digital production facilities.
The MRM//McCann Buenos Aires digital production center boasts 300 skilled staff and full
integration within the MRM//McCann global network. In Bucharest, Romania,
MRM//McCann has more than 100 staff dedicated to software development and quality
assurance.
CAUTIONS
Staffing imbalance: In Asia/Pacific, a staff of 600 (18% of the total) generates only 8% of
the revenue. Whether MRM//McCann is forward-investing in a stronger Asia/Pacific
presence — or simply generates more revenue from fewer staff in North America —
potential clients should look closely at staffing allocations to ensure consistent delivery of
services.
Creative talent and edge: As noted earlier, references were impressed with improvements
in MRM//McCann's talent and creative edge, but the perception persists that the agency still
lags with regard to design and creative talent when compared with category Leaders and
those with whom it competes for business.
OgilvyOne Worldwide
OgilvyOne Worldwide (formerly profiled as Ogilvy & Mather, part of WPP) moves into the
Leaders quadrant this year; it was the only traditional marketing firm to do so. The agency is
successfully evolving its products and services to keep pace with market demands, including
making significant investments acquiring technology service providers and expanding its
global footprint. Client relationships show the breadth and depth of OgilvyOne Worldwide's
capabilities, from its work with Kimberly-Clark on global digital marketing and digital business
transformation, to engagements with Famous Footwear, analyzing the customer journey to
uncover loyalty and revenue opportunities.
STRENGTHS
Technology investments: Not only did OgilvyOne hire a new CTO, the agency also made
several strategic acquisitions: Verticurl, a marketing automation provider; Bottle Rocket, a
mobile application developer; and PennyWise Solutions, an India-based Web developer.
OgilvyOne Worldwide also formed H&O, an in-house digital production company.
Increased global capabilities: OgilvyOne expanded its footprint in Africa, Brazil and the
Middle East. The agency also diversified financial results, showing that North America
represents just 45% of its 2014 digital marketing revenue. Its work with Nestlé, where it has
29 market assignments as lead agency, is indicative of this strength.

Proprietary processes: OgilvyOne's planning tool (Data-inspired, Always-On, Valuable
Experiences [DAVE]) offers improved service delivery for designing digital experiences
using data and analytics — from planning through measurement and optimization.
CAUTIONS
Innovation and design: OgilvyOne faces competition from agencies pushing hard into
innovation and technological leadership. Clients rarely report innovation, design or
development as reasons for choosing OgilvyOne.
Changing organizational structure: While 90% of OgilvyOne's business is digital, including
its fully integrated Neo@Ogilvy unit, it also taps into other business units, such as
Digital@Ogilvy, which have their own digital expertise and support other parts of WPP.
Possible
Possible (part of WPP) is a digitally focused Niche Player with about 1,500 staffers in 23
global locations. Possible positions itself as a nimble alternative player in the market. Key
areas of depth include content marketing, mobile design, content management and digital
commerce services. Possible is a certiﬁed Amazon creative and technology consulting
partner. The agency made several high-level and specialist hires in 2015 that demonstrate its
commitment to global growth. Notable clients include Starbucks, St-Germain ("Vive the
Daylife") and Burt's Bees.
STRENGTHS
Customer experience design: Possible continues to build out well-regarded digital design
capabilities. It offers design services for apps and digital experiences, including products
and services. A standout example is JetBlue's popular mobile app.
Content marketing: Possible's content creation and social marketing engagements grew
this past year. It partnered with Mindshare to launch Content+, an integrated platform to
distribute snippets of text and images it calls "microcontent." Innovative executions include
a campaign for Microsoft's OneNote that invited millennial co-creators to share success
stories.
Global presence: Based in Seattle, Possible's organizational structure allows it to allocate
senior and specialized talent across geographies to adapt to client needs. Clients give the
agency high scores for its ﬂexibility and willingness to collaborate.
CAUTIONS
Limited awareness: Although no longer a new brand, Possible faces challenges
establishing itself within a competitive landscape. Its ongoing project is to maintain
momentum while gaining more breakthrough cross-channel client success stories.
Executional Focus: Possible's public posture has evolved from competing with Leaders to a
narrower position as a nimble Niche Player. This approach means Possible is seen as an
executional rather than strategic partner, and client references give the agency lower

relative scores for strategic services.
PwC Digital Services
PwC Digital Services is a Challenger appearing in the Magic Quadrant for the first time,
following a 2014 reorganization that combined multiple previously acquired entities
rebranded as PwC Digital Services. The resulting entity combines the marketing expertise of a
digital agency with the business transformation and industry expertise of a consulting firm.
Having made six agency acquisitions in the previous seven years, PwC made three more
acquisitions in 2015 to support the digital marketing services business: iBROWS, Nealite and
Cinovate.
STRENGTHS
Ability to leverage existing C-level relationships from a large installed base of business
consulting clients: PwC generates more than $34 billion a year in revenue and has offices
in 157 countries. Many of its clients have invested in business transformation initiatives.
PwC Digital Services has the ability to leverage these relationships to sell digital services.
Process and delivery expertise: Clients acknowledged PwC Digital Services' sales process
and solutions in delivering complex digital experiences. This is an important capability in
the market, as clients move beyond traditional marketing communications projects to more
complex initiatives that cross channels and customer experiences. References cited the
firm's ability to understand and effectively scope project needs and execution as strengths.
Recent hires boost the firm's creative capabilities.
Demonstration of integrated capabilities: In 2015, PwC Digital Services opened 29
Experience Centers. It has staffed the Experience Centers with more than 3,000 creative,
technical and process professionals. These centers showcase the firm's integrated
approach that combines the creative work of an agency with the strategic and process
expertise of a business consultancy.
CAUTIONS
Creative limitations: Clients appreciate PwC's creative capabilities, but creative execution
wasn't a core strength when compared with the Leaders. Case studies cited by PwC
focused on business process improvement as opposed to creatively innovative use cases
that define the cutting edge of customer experience and marketing. PwC's examples
focused on using digital and mobile solutions to improve traditional processes, while
Leaders were focused on transformational redesign of customer experiences.
No focus on marketers or digital marketing: Gartner believes that digital marketing is an
important part of digital business transformation. PwC claims that it does not serve the
marketer in digital service activities or projects.
Razorfish

Razorfish (part of Publicis Groupe) is a Leader. It's also one of the first agencies built to focus
solely on digital, and it continues to lead the industry for its vision and Ability to Execute. The
firm's ongoing investment in talent, technology and strong partnerships coalesces to meet its
clients' complex marketing challenges.
STRENGTHS
Vision: Razorfish recognizes the threat posed by traditional consultancies and invests
heavily in its own capacities to bring a transformative vision to senior client leaders.
Through a combination of talent, technology and traditional agency skill sets, like media,
clients praise Razorfish for its ability to bring its visions to life and tie them to measurable
business results.
Risk and innovation: Clients praise Razorfish's ability to gain senior management buy-in and
take risks. The agency's work in emerging technologies is notable — including virtual reality
showroom experiences for Audi and dynamic video content for Nike. Razorfish is piloting a
shopping experience called "Third Channel," and it is considering artificial intelligence (AI)
technology offerings from Microsoft's Project Oxford and IBM Watson to improve one-to-
one customer interactions.
Collaboration: Clients give Razorfish high marks for its collaborative approach, which
remains consistently strong from the initial pitch through consulting and execution. The
agency's ability to integrate into an organization is a core strength. Clients also praise the
agency's ability to work within tight timelines with little friction.
CAUTIONS
Price: Razorfish is a premium-priced provider that may be out of the reach of many
marketers. That said, nearly 20% of its clients have less than 2,500 employees, so the
limitations are more a function of budget than company size. Indeed, well-funded, smaller
digital disrupters, like Spotify and car2go, are clients, signaling Razorfish's role as an
innovation partner for organizations of all sizes and stages of evolution.
Staffing clarity: Some clients mentioned a need for greater transparency into staffing
structures, and report challenges with obtaining consistent levels of staffing to scale
programs.
R/GA
R/GA (part of Interpublic), a Leader, is a full-service strategic and marketing partner to CMOs
for global brands such as Nike, Samsung, Google and McCormick. R/GA is expanding its
global reach with offices throughout EMEA and Asia/Pacific. The agency positions itself as a
trusted advisor to major brands, crafting product and experience design solutions that go
beyond promotional campaigns. In keeping with its entertainment industry roots, R/GA is
more adept than most of its competitors at executing digital-first concepts, including
technology development and startup incubation.
STRENGTHS

STRENGTHS
Creative depth: R/GA often delivers engaging, provocative work for its clients. It's
particularly adroit at developing and delivering digital services, such as L'Oreal's "My
Signature Beauty," and creating fresh TV and video content for clients — notably, standout
Beats by Dre spots launched in late 2014.
Strategic thinking: R/GA has notable success as a strategic partner to brands focused on
the customer journey and technology innovation (it hosts a startup Accelerator program).
Clients rate the agency highly for strategic services.
Execution capabilities: Only a handful of agencies have the depth of digital-first design and
production resources offered by R/GA. The agency is capable of impressive cross-channel
executions, including the Ad Council's "Love Has No Labels" anti-bias work, and its
connected-device-driven cycling campaign for Equinox.
CAUTIONS
Collaboration model: Although reference clients generally praised R/GA's collaborative
approach, some said the agency could do more to integrate with internal teams, such as IT.
Increasing competition: The agency landscape is getting increasingly crowded as well-
funded competitors from adjacent categories set R/GA's home territory in their sights.
SapientNitro
SapientNitro, a Leader, was acquired by Publicis Groupe at the beginning of 2015, creating the
holding company's digital-centered Publicis.Sapient platform, which also includes DigitasLBi,
Razorfish and Sapient Consulting. SapientNitro is well-regarded for its innovative, strategic
approach to customer experience design, called "Storyscaping." It has the creative,
technological and analytical chops to deliver efficiently against that approach through its
"Agile-based" project delivery methodology.
STRENGTHS
Strategic vision: SapientNitro has marketing foresight combined with creative execution
unmatched by most competitors, as demonstrated by work that is equally recognized by
creative and technology award juries. As the number of customer touchpoints, connected
channels and marketing technologies grows, SapientNitro continues to develop and
execute increasingly complex engagements, as it did with a connected ecosystem for
Regions Bank.
Innovation in analytics: The agency, recognizing the challenges that clients face in
measuring CX investment ROI, developed a Return on Experience methodology that
understands physical and in-venue — not just digital — behavior by using emerging
technologies like sensors, while investing in emotional insights analytics to better
understand the customer journey. Recognizing the need for companies to transform by

using service design, agility and developmental operations as core competitive advantages,
the agency developed models, methods and tools to help clients like Marks & Spencer build
competencies in these critical areas.
Digital commerce and retail: SapientNitro has long-term, successful relationships with
Adobe, Sitecore, Oracle, IBM and Demandware, and it was named "Most Innovative Partner
of the Year" by SAP Hybris. Its Connected Retail Lab envisions the store of the future,
whereby a connected customer experience is fueled by emerging technologies.
CAUTIONS
Minding the fundamentals: While SapientNitro is clearly investing in innovative data
technologies, clients rate their own satisfaction with those services lower than we would
expect, perhaps indicating resources are focused on what's next versus what's needed now.
Overambitious: Clients indicate that SapientNitro, at times, brings forth proposals that are
beyond the current budgetary and operational capabilities of the client organization.
VML
VML (part of the WPP) is a Niche Player with 2,500 staffers in 26 locations, including EMEA
and Asia/Pacific. It focuses on three core practice areas: Strategy and Intelligence, Marketing
and Advertising, and Platforms and Experiences. Major clients include Kellogg, Kimberly-
Clark, Colgate, Motorola and Wendy's. The firm has enhanced its project management and
institutional process flows to ensure consistent global delivery, and it has developed what it
calls the "Efficient Design, Graceful Execution (EDGE)" methodology, applying agile
techniques to creative experience design. One way this effort is paying off is with an
increasingly diverse portfolio of work across multiple markets.
STRENGTHS
Client engagement: Clients continue to praise VML's people for their integrity, "can-do
attitude," and ability to deliver on time and within budget. The agency reports 92% retention
among clients and gets high scores from references for "collaboration."
Growth strategy: As a somewhat less-known player in the agency "big leagues," VML
continues to raise its profile through global expansion and well-chosen partnerships, and by
enhancing its own ability to deliver multichannel creative and technology programs.
Partnership depth: VML is adept at developing and managing meaningful strategic
partnerships across a range of disciplines, including creative, content, analytics and
technology. Notable partners include Adobe, Acquia, Sitecore and Microsoft.
CAUTIONS
Global consistency: As VML continues to expand its global footprint, it must maintain
delivery quality and its own rigorous service standards. Clients reporting some inconsistent
delivery in 2015 point to the need for ongoing vigilance.

Challenging clients: Praised for its flexibility and collaboration, VML may at times need to
hone its ability to challenge clients and press for bolder ideas. Although creativity can be a
two-way street, some clients said they wished VML would "push us harder" to innovate.
Wieden+Kennedy
Wieden+Kennedy (W+K), one of the few remaining independent agencies in this year's Magic
Quadrant, remains a Visionary. W+K stands out for its continued creative leadership,
combined with its ability to successfully integrate and execute traditional and digital
marketing campaigns. While the agency has earned numerous accolades for its creative, it
has not expanded into strategic services or data and analytics with the passion or pace of its
peers.
STRENGTHS
Creative culture: W+K maintains a creative culture that produces galvanizing ideas and
award-winning advertising and marketing campaigns, such as the Nike World Cup
advertising campaign and multichannel execution.
Technology/brand utility: W+K demonstrates an ability to use technology to develop brand
experiences that support campaign executions, such as the Old Spice adventure campaign.
Flexibility: W+K builds its capabilities around "brand purpose," maintaining a flexible
offering to meet the needs of its clients, which is increasingly important among marketing
agencies.
CAUTIONS
Small global footprint: W+K lacks the global scale of competitors. It has a micro network of
global offices (and growing global revenue), but it lacks a presence in emerging regions like
the Middle East, Africa, and Central and Eastern Europe, where competitors are expanding
their footprint.
Limited data capabilities: W+K's focus on data and analytics is limited to social listening
and monitoring, and campaign tracking and measurement, despite data becoming a crucial
part of marketing in a digital age. This places the firm at a clear disadvantage versus
competitors that invest in this area.
Narrow focus: W+K is recognized more for creative, content and advertising than for CX
design and development. As marketing's responsibility for CX increases, W+K may need to
increase investment and emphasize its capabilities in these areas.
Wunderman
Wunderman (part of WPP) remains a Challenger. The firm focuses on combining creativity
and data-driven insight to develop global campaigns, content and user experiences.
Wunderman serves all industries and is growing in both the B2B and B2C sectors.
Wunderman's approach to delivering business transformation lies in using customer data to

inform strategy and design, more so than in technical deployments. In addition to providing
traditional and digital marketing services, Wunderman also offers CRM strategy, analysis and
execution as a service to clients like GSK and Microsoft.
STRENGTHS
Leadership investment: Wunderman is making strategic hires around the globe, bringing
new leadership and dedication to the business overall and in key regions.
Data investments: Data makes up 20% of Wunderman's revenue and fuels the agency's
capabilities across data services, data management, analytics, measurement, reporting and
consumer engagement. Wunderman also applies a data-driven approach to insight and
creative, called "Collision," through access to KBM Group data assets, data from
partnerships with other WPP agencies and companies like Apple, Twitter and Facebook for
data matching, and investment in Zipline, its data management platform.
Global scale: Clients cite Wunderman's global scale as an asset for speed of
implementation. The recent acquisition of Phantasia (a digital marketing agency in Peru), a
partnership with Conversocial in the Middle East, and a majority stake in ABS Creative in
Europe extend Wunderman's worldwide offerings.
CAUTIONS
New leadership: With new North American leadership, Wunderman and its clients need to
carefully monitor consistent service delivery and execution as the team adjusts.
Lack of recognition: Despite its success, size and scale, Wunderman lacks the industry
reputation and prominence of other agencies of similar size.
Vendors Added and Dropped
We review and adjust our inclusion criteria for Magic Quadrants as markets change. As a
result of these adjustments, the mix of vendors in any Magic Quadrant may change over time.
A vendor's appearance in a Magic Quadrant one year and not the next does not necessarily
indicate that we have changed our opinion of that vendor. It may be a reﬂection of a change in
the market and, therefore, changed evaluation criteria, or of a change of focus by that vendor.
Added
Cognizant was added as a result of its increasing focus on, and revenue from, marketing
services and the strength of its global reach and technology capabilities.
PwC Digital Services is a growing digital marketing service provider, and it is increasingly
mentioned as a core competitor alongside other traditional consultancies.
Mirum, part of JWT, was launched in early 2015 and brings together 11 digital units to form a
global network of digital marketing service providers.
Dropped

Rosetta, a participant in the previous global digital marketing Magic Quadrant, is part of
Razorfish this year.
Meredith Xcelerated Marketing (MXM) was dropped from this Magic Quadrant because its
estimated revenue did not meet our inclusion criterion of $175 million.
Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria
To be included in this Magic Quadrant, global digital marketing agencies must meet specific
criteria, of which two have been updated from the previous Magic Quadrant. First, we
increased the minimum annual global revenue to $175 million to account for the changing
market landscape. Second, we required providers to demonstrate global capabilities in three
geographic regions (not just two), because cementing that success outside of North America
and Europe is increasingly critical for global marketers. The criteria include the following:
Revenue: Providers in this evaluation must have a global revenue of at least $175 million
for digital marketing services.
Core business: Providers in this evaluation are marketing agencies focused on strategizing,
creating, distributing and measuring customer-facing digital experiences across the
customer journey. They create and manage digital experiences that drive awareness,
consideration, conversion and advocacy across all digital channels. As such, providers
serve as lead digital agency or digital agency of record for at least three enterprise clients.
Full-service provider: Providers in this evaluation must offer the following critical
capabilities: strategic services (business, marketing and/or brand strategy); content
development and creative services; technology implementation; and measurement and
analytics. Agencies under consideration must demonstrate a comprehensive track record
delivering these capabilities to their clients across paid, owned and earned digital media,
including website, social media, email, mobile, paid search and digital advertising channels.
Global reach: Providers in this evaluation must have a global reach. They must have
developed communications solutions to engage audiences in at least three global regions,
with resources and staffing on the ground in those regions.
Five new clients: Providers in this evaluation must have acquired at least five new clients in
the past 12 months (which may include new engagements within a different business unit
of an existing client). Client acquisition costs in this sector are high, and the ability to grow
business in an existing account is a bellwether of success.
Evaluation Criteria
Ability to Execute

Product/Service: We looked at the strength of a provider's full-service, cross-discipline
offerings, and for seamless integration across the following core competencies: strategic and
creative services, experience design, application development (with related system
integration skills), analytics, program management and media planning/buying services.
Overall Viability: An assessment of a provider's overall financial health or, in cases in which a
provider is a corporate subsidiary, its financial and practical success as a business unit. We
looked at a provider's overall commitment to digital marketing services, and to the likelihood
of the organization continuing to offer and invest in related products, services and
technologies.
Sales Execution/Pricing: We evaluated a provider's capacity for global business development
and for its ability to manage a global brand. We also assessed the provider's billing model
flexibility (for example, fixed price, time and materials [T&M], retainer, performance-based,
and/or fees for equity billing). Finally, we looked for a provider's demonstrated track record of
cross-selling services for greater wallet share among major accounts.
Market Responsiveness/Record: We evaluated a provider's marketing service agility, and
looked at its history of acquisition, alliances and new hires in digital, social and mobile. We
also looked at the provider's ability to leverage the rising demand for business strategy and
digital business transformation services.
Marketing Execution: We looked for evidence of the provider's digital thought leadership as
part of its marketing program execution. We investigated a provider's ability to deftly integrate
social, mobile and other digital marketing technologies into the larger marketing strategy.
Customer Experience: We looked for evidence of sustained client relationships and any key
client losses in the past two to three years. We corroborated this evidence with feedback
from references, Gartner inquiries and other client-facing interactions, including via our
participation at Gartner conferences and other industry events.
Operations: We assessed how a provider staffed projects from a global pool of resources, as
well as looked at provider flexibility and client accommodation related to managing talent. We
also looked at a provider's willingness to invest in the tools and technology required for agile,
efficient management of skilled agency talent.
Table 1. Ability to Execute Evaluation Criteria
Evaluation Criteria Weighting
Product or Service High
Overall Viability High
Sales Execution/Pricing High

Market Responsiveness/Record High
Marketing Execution High
Customer Experience High
Operations High
Completeness of Vision
Market Understanding: Here we looked at a provider's strategic understanding of the full
marketing mix driving the client's business, as evidenced by the depth of thought leadership
and strategic services across the customer journey. As disruptive technologies and
competitors enter the market, we also looked at a provider's ability to think beyond
promotional tactics and address opportunities and challenges within traditionally siloed client
organizations, like e-commerce and product development. Finally, we looked at a provider's
ability to understand customer demands and shape (or enhance) market changes with their
added vision.
Marketing Strategy: The provider's go-to-market strategy should align with emerging trends
and the overall direction of the market for digital agency services. We considered the vendor's
ability to create and distribute clear, differentiated messaging across digital channels — and
its capacity to educate the market and provide thought leadership around emerging practices
and technologies.
Sales Strategy: This criterion examines a vendor's ability to secure new client wins within the
past 12 months. This is not a volume business; profitability depends on the ability to develop
long-term relationships. Hence, we looked at the provider's ability to sell and grow longer-term
relationships versus the provider's ability to score one-off wins.
Offering (Product) Strategy: Here we evaluated a provider's capability mix. We specifically
investigated how well this mix incorporated multidisciplinary services into an integrated
offering, from strategic services to the underlying components that drive the engagement,
including creative services, technology build-outs, measurement and program management.
We also asked client references about the provider's skill and ability to transition their
engagements from strategy to implementation.
Business Model: We assessed the strength of a provider's business model relative to its
financial engagement with clients — from T&M and fixed-price structures to performance-
based agreements. Today, traditional agencies (that is, those borne from creative roots)

compete side-by-side with technology-driven system integrators. By perfecting their approach
to scope and pricing, these data-focused firms force less-disciplined agencies to apply
greater structure and rigor to their own client financial engagements.
Vertical/Industry Strategy: We examined the strength of a provider's investments in industry
applications of digital marketing as a means of differentiating its client's brand. We also
looked at how a provider approached a vertical market: with a mere point of view or with a
customized offering infused with industry knowledge in its delivery.
Innovation: We reviewed a provider's ability to push clients to take risks, couched by a
methodology that can put boundaries on risk through techniques such as pilots or
independent R&D efforts. We also looked at how agencies fund a portion of their own R&D
with partners, universities or their own research labs. We did so, with the understanding that
providers in this industry rarely have an independent R&D budget, and must often fund
innovation through billable work — leaving an agency vulnerable as new technologies
encroach into its core competencies.
Geographic Strategy: We examined a provider's operational investments beyond its
headquarters location, in parallel with an exploration of the firm's capacity to execute globally
in a virtual world. We did so aware that providers in this market are global players; most have
years of experience designing and implementing global brand awareness campaigns. Yet,
while many providers can point to North America and Europe as driving global efforts
historically, here we looked at a provider's experience within such key nations as Brazil,
Russia, India and China, as well as within emerging economies.
Table 2. Completeness of Vision Evaluation Criteria
Evaluation Criteria Weighting
Market Understanding High
Marketing Strategy Medium
Sales Strategy High
Offering (Product) Strategy High
Business Model High
Vertical/Industry Strategy High
Innovation High

Geographic Strategy High
Quadrant Descriptions
Leaders
Leaders possess deep, broad capabilities across all competencies — most notably related to
strategic services (which include business strategy and digital business transformation
skills). Leaders implement comprehensive, effective solutions that leverage sizable
investments in creative talent and marketing technology. While Leaders have attributes of
fast followers, they invest their own R&D dollars to set market direction. As a result, Leaders
are the providers to watch in the ongoing evolution and transformation of marketing in a
digital world.
Leaders maintain a viable business, regardless of the global economy. Leaders extend their
client relationships far beyond marketing promotions, often appearing on competitive bids
outside their primary sector (for example, management consulting, production ideation and
product development RFQs). Leaders help their clients develop digital marketing platforms
designed for systemic growth and scale; they do so by harnessing their own significant
expertise, implementing digital marketing programs driven by data and analytics.
Challengers
Challengers have a proven ability to execute their current offering but haven't yet executed a
digital marketing vision on the scale of the Leaders. Challengers can become Leaders if their
vision develops and they implement client engagements that move the market forward. As
such, it's not uncommon for large end-user clients to move their engagements between
Challengers and Leaders as their needs shift from management consulting, to product
ideation and to promotional plan execution.
Challengers deliver exceptional work but tend toward reticence with regard to pushing clients
to take business risks (as opposed to promotional risks). Whereas Leaders aren't afraid to
challenge clients out of their comfort zone, Challengers are less likely to do so. Challengers
may have a global staffing model in progress, but it is still in need of refinement. With
strategic services embedded typically in marketing and promotional tactics, Challengers
often lack the kind of consulting power in which the Leaders have invested, as evidenced by
Leaders' recruitment of business strategists from top management consulting firms to
address digital business transformation.
Visionaries

Visionaries align with the market's evolution but lack a proven depth and breadth of services
— or a demonstrated execution of their marketing vision through deeper client engagements.
Visionaries are often strong in creative services, UX, search, analytics and performance. While
Visionaries have a robust portfolio of skills, they apply resources and talents to brand- and
identity-building, marketing promotions, advertising or public relations. Many lack the
business strategy expertise we find among the Leaders.
Visionaries often introduce new technology, services or business models, but without the
solid financial strength, service and support — or more sophisticated sales models and
partner/alliance programs — required for ongoing client benefit or viability. Visionaries can
become Challengers or Leaders, provided they increase the breadth and depth of their service
offering beyond promotional marketing.
Niche Players
Niche Players may demonstrate proven prowess in a specific market segment, or they have
limited ability to innovate or outperform other providers. Some Niche Players focus on a
particular marketing function or geographic region; they may be choosing to maintain what
they do well to avoid the risk-taking attributes of Visionaries and/or Leaders. Niche Players
are often new market entrants; they can also be organizations opting to focus on a core set of
offerings. Alternatively, they may be struggling to acquire clients seeking providers with
leadership or visionary qualities. Niche Players, because of a more limited view of marketing,
typically excel at their core competency. They have adequate functionality, limited
implementation and support capabilities, and a relatively limited customer base compared
with Leaders, Challengers and Visionaries.
Context
This Magic Quadrant analyzes digital marketing agencies that compete on the global stage.
Agencies were evaluated on how well they are executing their vision for digital marketing
through client references, as well as investments in their people, methodology and R&D.
Market Overview
The Traditional Agency Model Is Broken
In 2016, CMOs are rethinking their brands' dependence on external marketing agencies. Many
aren't convinced that external firms are the right allies to take into battle, highlighting a
continued trend among CMOs to build internal marketing capabilities or even establish in-
house agencies. The reason for this shift is twofold. First, CMOs want creativity as a core
tenet of their own teams. In May 2015, Chobani CMO Peter McGuinness told Digiday, "The
more you outsource, the less of a creative culture you have." In October 2015, Brad Jakeman,
1
2

president of PepsiCo's global beverage group, went further, shaking the agency world with his
assertion that unless it innovates, the traditional agency model "is not going to bend, it's
going to break."
For their part, agencies rightly critique marketers' ineffective briefing processes and the use
of the agency pitch to score spec work, which drives up costs on both sides, according to Eve
Reiter, VP of Global Supply Management at American Express.
Indeed, the selection process greatly influences the client/agency relationship success.
Marketers (not procurement alone) must invest time and effort to fully vet an agency, taking
care to clearly illuminate business goals and challenges. In doing so, the agency can properly
vet them in return. Agency selection left largely to procurement, and beholden to stringent
process versus open conversation, neutralizes a critical element of a successful creative
partnership — the ability to challenge each other.
To help their clients compete in today's global and digital marketplace, agencies need to
rethink traditional models of engagement and execution. Three rounds of creative review may
be three rounds too late for relevance to today's always-on consumer. Outdated staffing
models may create scope creep, or worse (for agencies), dollars left on the table.
The Leaders in this Magic Quadrant are finding ways to disrupt themselves from within —
through, for example, more flexible compensation models — and deliver newfound agility to
their clients.
Agility Reigns
Customer touchpoints, channels and technologies (as well as CEO priorities) continually
change; successful marketers and agencies must adapt to thrive.
Our Leaders' clients express an appreciation for agility. Words like "collaborative," "flexible"
and "responsive" rise to the top of agency superlatives. CMOs also value an agency's
willingness to assimilate and respect their organization's culture — while pushing it to
overcome internal inertia and grow its own vision.
As marketers rely on ever-growing rosters of technology and marketing partners, a lead
agency's ability to collaborate with and lead those partners is critical — and is a key point of
positive or negative differentiation in agencies' client reference surveys. The traditional
concept of an agency of record is dying, and territorialism is a liability.
As for agency process, clients value it to the extent that it drives progress without impeding
agility. Our Leaders consistently utilize respected, established, agile methodologies built to
adapt to circumstances when required.
This desire for agility increases the appeal of smaller, independent agencies not covered in
this Magic Quadrant. Increasingly, we see some of the best traction on delivering agility
coming from regional or boutique agencies, which are able to deliver an attractive balance of
3
4

strategy, creative and technology, but lack the global reach required by many marketers. In
many ways, the pairing of a smaller, agile agency with an equally dynamic, upstart marketer
presents great risk to ad industry stalwarts and their clients. Those clients would be remiss in
not looking beyond the large global networks.
What's Next?
We asked Magic Quadrant agencies for their take on the challenges and opportunities that
marketers will face in the coming year. Through a wide range of detailed responses, three key
themes emerged:
Customer experience primacy and the move to continuous engagement — Successful
marketers are already moving away from episodic, campaign-centric thinking to continuous
engagement with customers (see "Synchronize Campaigns and Continuous Engagement
With Two-Speed Marketing" ). Innovation in customer journey mapping and experience
design is critical, and it can't be done within a narrow view of your industry alone. Your
customers' experience with your product will be compared with their last, best experience
with a brand, even if that brand is in an entirely different category. This dynamic is
especially true as greater customer buying power erodes traditional differentiation and
competitive buying options (see "Customer Experience Is the New Competitive Battlefield"
).
A focus on business outcomes, not marketing key performance indicators (KPIs) — Agencies
need to help their clients rethink marketing's larger role in driving business results beyond
just marketing metrics (see "How to Develop an Effective Marketing Dashboard" ). As such,
agencies must evolve their roles from marketing experts to business consultants. While
this trend favors the traditional management consultant players in this Magic Quadrant, the
more creatively focused firms are investing in this capability, providing them an advantage.
Advances in business intelligence, particularly machine learning and predictive analytics,
favor the technology-centric agencies. A successful marketer will find an agency that
strikes the right balance between consultative strength, creative storytelling fueled by data,
and technological know-how.
Connected customers and commerce — Agencies will need the technical capabilities to
integrate new channels, media formats and connected things (including mobile, IoT and
virtual reality, to name a few) into a customer experience increasing in complexity. Brands
seeking to embed commerce across all customer touchpoints, online and offline, seek
agencies that can deliver that capability seamlessly (see "Digital Commerce Is Prime
Candidate for Innovation in 2016" ).
Agencies to Watch
The following agencies aren't included in this Magic Quadrant due to limited revenue or global
reach, but they are experiencing significant growth and industry accolades, while challenging
the traditional agency business model:

Huge — This Brooklyn-based agency is a leader in mobile marketing, and it offers full-
service capabilities. Its collaborative approach (using small, interdisciplinary teams)
addresses the demand for agility in agency partners. The Drum recognized Huge's growing
international presence by naming it the U.K.'s fastest-growing agency.
360i — Part of the Dentsu Aegis Network, 360i is a full-service digital agency focusing on
data-driven media and content. Named as the OMMA Agency of the Year three years
running, 360i ranked seventh on Ad Age's 2016 A-List, and it earned accolades from Digiday
as Best Content Marketing Agency. It posted double-digit revenue growth in 2015, powered
in part by a twofold increase in work with distiller Pernod Ricard.
Organic — Organic provides a full range of services — from advertising and social
marketing campaigns to website and mobile app development. Its dynamic creative
platform, Organism, leverages data and programmatic to deliver personalized experiences
to individuals. Its global-branded platform for Hilton helped drive significant increases in
conversion rates and loyalty program enrollment. In 2015, Organic added AT&T, Wells Fargo,
MetLife and Cars.com to its roster.
72andSunny — With its focus on cultural relevance, 72andSunny continues its run as one of
the hottest shops around, placing fifth in Ad Age's 2016 Agency A-List — and named by Fast
Co. as one of 2015's Most Innovative Companies. Part of that innovation includes its stellar
collaborative capabilities. Part of MDC Partners, 72andSunny experienced a 33% jump in
revenue and 27% jump in staffing in 2015 — and added new business from Axe, MillerCoors
and General Mills. The firm continues to do more work with Google than any other agency.
Critical Mass — Part of Omnicom Group, Critical Mass is a full-service experience design
agency with offices worldwide, including a recently launched presence in Brazil. In late
2015, it acquired Zocalo Group, adding heft to its social and word-of-mouth capabilities.
Critical Mass' work with forward-thinking fashion brands like Adidas and Gucci
complements its relationships with more traditional clients like Citi and HP Inc. Clients
praise the firm's high-quality work, as well as the insight of its strategists, creative/UX
professionals, technologists and program managers.
Evidence
This Magic Quadrant followed Gartner methodology for vendor evaluation, including a vendor
survey, vendor briefs, vendor-provided references and conversations with Gartner end-user
clients. It also includes material assembled by the Gartner Secondary Research Service (SRS)
team from published sources. The authors wish to recognize the contributions of SRS
researchers Rahul Sharma, Aparna Bajaj, Pooja Daga, Sourish Chatterjee, Shailendra
Upadhyay and Aditi Rastogi . They also wish to recognize project management and writing
support services provided by Lauren Abel and Barbara Sibley.
5
6
1

D. Gianatasio. "What the In-House Agency Boom Means for CMOs and Outside Shops."
(http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/what-house-agency-boom-means-cmos-and-
outside-shops-168593) Adweek. 16 December 2015.
T. Dua. "Chobani CMO: The More You Outsource, the Less Creative You Get.
(http://digiday.com/brands/chobani-cmo-outsource-less-creative-get/) " Digiday. 18 May 2015.
E.J. Schultz. "PepsiCo Exec Has Tough Words for Agencies." (http://adage.com/article/special-
report-ana-annual-meeting-2015/agencies-fire-ana-convention/300942/) Ad Age. 15 October
2015.
J. Neff. "The CMO's Guide to Agency Procurement." (http://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/cmo-
s-guide-agency-procurement/298536/) Ad Age. 13 May 2015.
L. Stein. "360i Is No. 7 on Ad Age's 2016 Agency A-List." (http://adage.com/article/special-report-
agency-alist-2016/360i-7-ad-age-s-2016-agency-a-list/302228/) Ad Age. 25 January 2016.
M. Morrison. "72andSunny Is No. 5 on Ad Age's 2016 Agency A-List."
(http://adage.com/article/special-report-agency-alist-2016/72andsunny-5-ad-age-s-2016-agency-a-
list/302245/) Ad Age. 25 January 2016.
Evaluation Criteria Definitions
Ability to Execute
Product/Service: Core goods and services offered by the vendor for the defined market. This
includes current product/service capabilities, quality, feature sets, skills and so on, whether
offered natively or through OEM agreements/partnerships as defined in the market definition
and detailed in the subcriteria.
Overall Viability: Viability includes an assessment of the overall organization's financial
health, the financial and practical success of the business unit, and the likelihood that the
individual business unit will continue investing in the product, will continue offering the
product and will advance the state of the art within the organization's portfolio of products.
Sales Execution/Pricing: The vendor's capabilities in all presales activities and the structure
that supports them. This includes deal management, pricing and negotiation, presales
support, and the overall effectiveness of the sales channel.
Market Responsiveness/Record: Ability to respond, change direction, be flexible and achieve
competitive success as opportunities develop, competitors act, customer needs evolve and
market dynamics change. This criterion also considers the vendor's history of
responsiveness.
Marketing Execution: The clarity, quality, creativity and efficacy of programs designed to
deliver the organization's message to influence the market, promote the brand and business,
increase awareness of the products, and establish a positive identification with the
1
2
3
4
5
6

product/brand and organization in the minds of buyers. This "mind share" can be driven by a
combination of publicity, promotional initiatives, thought leadership, word of mouth and sales
activities.
Customer Experience: Relationships, products and services/programs that enable clients to
be successful with the products evaluated. Specifically, this includes the ways customers
receive technical support or account support. This can also include ancillary tools, customer
support programs (and the quality thereof), availability of user groups, service-level
agreements and so on.
Operations: The ability of the organization to meet its goals and commitments. Factors
include the quality of the organizational structure, including skills, experiences, programs,
systems and other vehicles that enable the organization to operate effectively and efficiently
on an ongoing basis.
Completeness of Vision
Market Understanding: Ability of the vendor to understand buyers' wants and needs and to
translate those into products and services. Vendors that show the highest degree of vision
listen to and understand buyers' wants and needs, and can shape or enhance those with their
added vision.
Marketing Strategy: A clear, differentiated set of messages consistently communicated
throughout the organization and externalized through the website, advertising, customer
programs and positioning statements.
Sales Strategy: The strategy for selling products that uses the appropriate network of direct
and indirect sales, marketing, service, and communication affiliates that extend the scope
and depth of market reach, skills, expertise, technologies, services and the customer base.
Offering (Product) Strategy: The vendor's approach to product development and delivery that
emphasizes differentiation, functionality, methodology and feature sets as they map to
current and future requirements.
Business Model: The soundness and logic of the vendor's underlying business proposition.
Vertical/Industry Strategy: The vendor's strategy to direct resources, skills and offerings to
meet the specific needs of individual market segments, including vertical markets.
Innovation: Direct, related, complementary and synergistic layouts of resources, expertise or
capital for investment, consolidation, defensive or pre-emptive purposes.
Geographic Strategy: The vendor's strategy to direct resources, skills and offerings to meet
the specific needs of geographies outside the "home" or native geography, either directly or
through partners, channels and subsidiaries as appropriate for that geography and market.

(http://gtnr.it/1KsfgQX)
© 2016 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Gartner is a registered trademark of Gartner,
Inc. or its affiliates. This publication may not be reproduced or distributed in any form without Gartner's
prior written permission. If you are authorized to access this publication, your use of it is subject to the
Usage Guidelines for Gartner Services (/technology/about/policies/usage_guidelines.jsp) posted on
gartner.com. The information contained in this publication has been obtained from sources believed to be
reliable. Gartner disclaims all warranties as to the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of such
information and shall have no liability for errors, omissions or inadequacies in such information. This
publication consists of the opinions of Gartner's research organization and should not be construed as
statements of fact. The opinions expressed herein are subject to change without notice. Gartner provides
information technology research and advisory services to a wide range of technology consumers,
manufacturers and sellers, and may have client relationships with, and derive revenues from, companies
discussed herein. Although Gartner research may include a discussion of related legal issues, Gartner does
not provide legal advice or services and its research should not be construed or used as such. Gartner is a
public company, and its shareholders may include firms and funds that have financial interests in entities
covered in Gartner research. Gartner's Board of Directors may include senior managers of these firms or
funds. Gartner research is produced independently by its research organization without input or influence
from these firms, funds or their managers. For further information on the independence and integrity of
Gartner research, see "Guiding Principles on Independence and Objectivity.
(/technology/about/ombudsman/omb_guide2.jsp)"
About (http://www.gartner.com/technology/about.jsp)
Careers (http://www.gartner.com/technology/careers/)
Newsroom (http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/)
Policies (http://www.gartner.com/technology/about/policies/guidelines_ov.jsp)
Privacy (http://www.gartner.com/privacy)
Site Index (http://www.gartner.com/technology/site-index.jsp)
IT Glossary (http://www.gartner.com/it-glossary/)
Contact Gartner (http://www.gartner.com/technology/contact/contact_gartner.jsp)

RZ Gartner Reprint

Recommandé

Recommandé

Contenu connexe

Tendances

Tendances (20)

En vedette

En vedette (14)

Similaire à RZ Gartner Reprint

Similaire à RZ Gartner Reprint (20)

RZ Gartner Reprint