Spark SMG

in the beginning, it was all about scale and specialization. media agencies peeled themselves away from their creative agency forebears in order to consolidate expertise and buying power. bringing big budgets and unique skills under one roof was thought to be the ultimate way to serve clients, ensuring the best pricing and the most technically proficient media pros for every account. as with all shifts of great magnitude, this move created significant gains. but it also created some unintended consequences, many of which would take more than a decade to begin showing up. although buying scale was indeed a benefit, creativity and strategy began to take a back seat at many media agencies, as planners became more enamored with wielding spreadsheets and tools than actual ingenuity. what was lost was the human element that had dominated at creative agencies. what was missing was that spark that could mean the difference between media-by-the-numbers and breakthrough success. yes, that spark.