Scenarios
Integration Achieved
JWT and other classic agencies, finally focused on interactive advertising, continue to win more and more digital business from top marketers. They do a better job of integrating offline advertising with online marketing - hence, Snuggles the fabric softener bear is now inescapable even on the Web. Meanwhile, the tech agencies realize they've lost their early foothold as marketing consultants to the big brands; they gradually scale back their operations, dump the MBAs they hired, and focus on providing technical back-end support - in effect serving as order-takers for JWT and other agencies that control the branding process. Jeffrey has the last laugh, but he's nice about it.
Probability: 25 percent
Media Tug-of-War
JWT finds that you win some and lose some, as classic agencies and tech specialists seesaw back and forth in the never-ending struggle to control digital marketing dollars. Each side touts its own success stories and points to the failures of the other. Marketers continue to have more partner options, which is good; the bad part is they find themselves sitting through even more new business presentations that revolve around the phrases "total integration," "soul of the brand," and "at the end of the day."
Probability: 40 percent
Tech Triumphant
JWT and other big agencies finally acknowledge that what everyone has been saying is true - they really just don't get it. After trying to force-fit their creative approaches into interactive advertising, they find that classic assertion messages don't work on the Web, which demands editorial content and depth of information; Jeffrey's creative team desperately tries to produce the latter, but the excessive use of exclamation points gives them away as ad guys. The technology-driven agencies, some of which have merged with small creative agencies, begin to take the lead not only on digital branding but on overall branding. The traditional agencies become the support guys, creating offline ads to reinforce the primary marketing message delivered online. Jeffrey leaves to form his own tech-specialty shop, called Kool-Aid; Wassong returns to TV with a gig onMalcolm in the Middle.
Probability: 25 percent
J. Way-New Thompson
JWT not only continues to enlarge its digital division, but also scores a big hit with its new entertainment group, powered by the talent and ideas of Basic Entertainment matched with the needs of packaged-goods clients to infiltrate pop culture. Most viewers fail to notice, but on every episode ofThe Sopranos, at some point in the story, Tony Soprano utters the line, "What's this? Where the fuck is my Ragu?"
Probability: 10 percent
