Why Today's Ad Agencies Are Reluctant to Call Themselves 'Ad Agencies'

As services and marketing channels expand, no one wants to sound limited

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Do these bursts of jargon sound familiar?

PepsiCo marketing executive Brad Jakeman earned attention during October's ANA Masters of Marketing Conference for suggesting—among other things—that marketers need to do away with such "dated" terms as "digital marketing" and "advertising agency." Based on the descriptions offered by the agencies themselves, many advertising execs agree with him, given that agencies now are in the business of content creation, product innovation, marketing and communications.

But this is not a new conversation.

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