Are agencies using the Web2.0 tools they are selling?

Rebecca Caroe, an old friend from the UK, has been doing some research (link direct to pdf of results) on UK agencies and their use of ‘Web2.0′ technologies. Some conclusion she has made:

• Creative agencies are lagging behind global trend of web2.0 adoption in global businesses
• the return on investment remains to be proven
• client demand is main driver of investment
• the distribution of ideas and open access to creative talent will undermine the traditional agency business

Although I have limited experience of working inside agencies, by observation has been that they have been far faster at adopting web2.0 stuff for their clients as a tool to ‘communicate’ with client customers than as a tool to change the way they and their clients communicate between themselves, to open up the membranes internally and externally. A better grasp of reality has set in, but agencies still jump on the latest fad, as they did with blogs and podcasts a year or more ago, as something they can ’sell’ clients – it’s hot and buzzworthy so ‘all’ the customers are using it (think Second Life for one of the more recent examples of this). I’ve seen few use the tools to change how they work up ’till now, with notable exceptions. But I think this is changing; within my workplace, I spend a lot of time explaining things to people so we can see if it fits with a client, but in doing so it affects how they themselves think about the tools they use, leading to an internal pressure to change.

It’s often easier to implement these technologies as part of a marketing spend, externally facing. Internally the agencies often face the barriers that any (large?) business puts in the way – IT policies, management reluctance, time barriers to changing the behaviour, stricter ROI rules. However, as agencies, with their fast churn and a heavy attractiveness to the creative, connected MySpace generation, move new people through the ranks, they are going to have to change the tools they use.