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Under threat, media push further into agency territory
COULD THE DAY SOON arrive when a marketer will consider NBC Universal, Meredith Corp. or Condé Nast alongside BBDO, Wieden & Kennedy or JWT when it comes to choosing someone to craft the right commercial?
Media companies have for years offered ad-agency-like services in hopes of stealing a few more of their clients' dollars. But lately some have taken it a step further by creating ads for clients that appear on other media properties. Increasingly, marketers want deep integration with content, and they're finding that the content producers themselves are often the best creative partner making their threat to agencies more tangible in recent months.
Consider that Condé Nast last week opened its doors to provide a broader set of creative services for clients, while Hearst Corp. is reported to be near a deal to acquire digital agency iCrossing. (Hearst last week said it doesn't comment on possible transactions.)
Condé's maneuver is particularly aggressive. The company's creative-services unit, CND Studios, will now accept assignments from clients regardless of whether the ads are earmarked for Condé's glitzy magazines or websites, and, as such, marks a significant shift for the publisher, which in the past has only done creative work for advertisers buying space in one of its publications, whether in print or online. Conde produced content for Kenneth Cole's retail site as well as ads that appeared on YouTube and Facebook.
"We do a lot of creative services for our clients," said Condé Chief Revenue Officer Drew Schutte. "Last year we were doing over 30 custom programs per quarter, and now we're doing 50, and often people were asking us, ?...