Advertising was a mad world, and the business was entrusted to mad men. Of late, advertising is shifting to maths men. Big Blue has built Interactive Experience the world’s largest digital agency. Deloitte has set up Deloitte Digital and Accenture has started Accenture Interactive. Sapient has entered the digital arena. A single click provides the brand experience that has been promoted meticulously through brand story in mass media. There has to be a consistency between what is being promoted and the brand experience on the digital media.

Tech firms bring their capability in analysis and insights. They can guide the company in new product development. They can be true marketing partners to the CEOs. Tech firms formerly used to hire engineers and MBAs, but these days they hire designers. Design thinking is the in-thing. Tech firms in ad business just do not rely on intuition. They rely more on science.

It does not mean the death of the large agencies, but it means the death of the working style of the large agencies.

Still the tech giants are not the first port of call for marketing solutions. However, things are changing very fast.

Digital agencies are dealing with CMOs and CFOs. They use technology to understand and discover user preferences and then deliver the right level of experience.

In design thinking the approach is not piecemeal but holistic. There could be a new way of discovering a problem and finding its solution. In selling diapers, you can use the whole processers of conception, delivery and growing up of the baby. In this process of rearing up the child, you may need diapers, wipes and gripe water. The foundation is big data which is analysed to understand the problem.