Managing Change and Finding Identity: A Grounded Analysis of Advertising Agency Leadership

Kerr

et al. 2021

Journal of Advertising

Self Cite

Unlike the extensive scholarship on leadership in related disciplines, research on leadership in advertising is almost non-existent. This study investigates practitioner views on attributes and styles of effective agency leaders in the US, UK, and Australia using GLOBE's (Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness) Culturally Endorsed Leadership Theory.All three regions are part of GLOBE's Anglo cultural cluster. The research examines whether the theory's central proposition -that leadership in global contexts has universally endorsed elements but is also culturally contingent -is valid in an advertising setting. Using a mixed method approach, data were collected from agency staff and leaders via 255 survey responses and 40 depth interviews. Findings indicate the best leaders are seen as people-focused, collaboration-driven and future-oriented. Integrity, vision and inspiration are top leadership attributes with collaborative and performance-oriented leadership styles considered the most effective. Views were fairly consistent across regions with some nuanced differences. One interesting difference from main GLOBE findings is emphasis on soft skills as a core component of effective leadership. Future research should examine this further, as well as relationship between leadership and agency culture, millennial and gender differences, leadership training challenges, and also study advertising leadership across other cultural clusters.

Section: What Leadership Attributes Define Advertising Leaders?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: What Leadership Attributes Define Advertising Leaders?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Ad Agency Leadership in the US, UK, and Australia: A Mixed-Method Analysis of Effective Attributes and Styles

Kerr

et al. 2021

Journal of Advertising

Self Cite

Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics

“…As early as 1997, Kassaye stressed the profound transformation of the competitive landscape in the advertising industry with the introduction of new players that the author calls "computer graphic studios and boutiques for web-related accounts" (p. 85). In the academic literature on communication agencies, there is a remarkable variety of terms to represent players specialising in digital media: "new-media firms", "internet boutiques" and "new-media agencies" (Rodgers and Chen 2002); "interactive agencies" (Mallia and Windels 2011); "digital agencies" (Vernuccio and Ceccotti 2015); "pure-play digital agencies" (Stuhlfault and Windels 2019); "new agencies" (Hughes and Vafeas 2019); and "digitally focused agencies" (Patwardhan et al 2019).…”

Section: Theoretical Background and Research Questionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous studies have only investigated digital agencies in a comparative way to identify their differences from traditional agencies. The main differences that have emerged are related to structures and competencies, processes and corporate culture (Rodger and Chen 2002;Mallia and Windels 2011;Patwardhan et al 2019).…”

Section: Theoretical Background and Research Questionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Studies on communication agencies have focused almost exclusively on traditional agencies' digital transformation (Ceccotti et al 2020;Lynch and West 2017;Windels and Stuhlfaut 2018;Turnbull and Wheeler 2017). Although Rodgers and Chen stressed the importance of investigating "new agencies" as early as 2002, the literature on this topic is scant and restricted to the analysis of specific issues, such as the differences between these new agencies and traditional agencies in terms of structures, processes and corporate culture (Mallia and Windels 2011;Patwardhan et al 2019;Rodgers and Chen 2002). These new players are defined generically as agencies specialising in interactive digital media, such as internet advertising (Rodger and Chen 2002), mobile advertising, social media marketing, etc.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Who Is a Digital Agency? Delving into the Value Proposition

Ceccotti

Vernuccio

2021

translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.

Traditional agencies on bridges: How is digital transformation changing business models?

Ceccotti,

Vernuccio,

Mattiacci

et al. 2024

J Manag Gov

Digital technologies produce new strategic and organizational challenges for incumbent firms that require major digital transformation (DT) processes, leading to the evolution of business models (BMs). Contributing to the research stream on DT and BM evolution, this study explores which technologies have the most relevant effect on core BM dimensions, i.e., value proposition, value creation, and value capture, by investigating both the consequent themes and intensities of change in these dimensions. A valuable context for analysis was chosen: the advertising industry and traditional communication agencies, namely, creative and media agencies. Based on 38 in-depth interviews with senior communication professionals and qualitative content analysis, we propose a comprehensive reading of (1) the impact of specific technologies on different BM dimensions and components and (2) the themes and intensities of change in creative and media agencies’ BM dimensions. Finally, we outline an interpretative framework, identifying two different paths for incumbents: outside-in BM adaptation and inside-out BM innovation. This study therefore offers two academic contributions. First, it overcomes the vagueness of previous investigations that considered the effects of digital technologies in general terms, and it also resolves the narrow scope of research that focused only on the impact of one specific technology. Second, by deepening the understanding of the joint evolutions and intensities of change across all three BM dimensions, this study has widened the limited scope of previous contributions on one BM dimension. By doing so, it offers a comprehensive reading of BM dynamics due to DT.