Web agencies have IT factor

Ross Sleight’s admirable, but slightly hysterical, defence of the traditional agencies in “Net Brawl” (MW November 27) gives him the demeanor of a William Hague – heroically reversing his baseball cap while his party collapses around him.

Ad agencies already look like pretty strange sources of strategic guidance for the connected age (have you visited one lately? All those TVs in the lobby are a big giveaway) and they will look stranger still as the currency of digital media grows.

It seems odd that I have to point out that new media agencies are not exclusively populated by techies – any more than ad agencies are by polo-necked luvvies. Many of us understand business, know about communication and have even worked in ad agencies. At Web-media we win all our business, much of it strategic, direct from the client and are often told by those clients that their ad agencies are “clueless” about new media’s real impact on their business.

Not to put too fine a point on it, smart clients are being driven into our arms by ignorant ad agencies. Bright exceptions like Ross might do better to follow them.

Steve Bowbrick,

Chairman, Webmedia

steve@webmedia.com