Reinvention At Digital Shops: From Online Advertisers To Tech Innovators

Razorfish and R/GA are widely recognized as being among the most innovative and visible digital shops around. R/GA was recognized by Adweek as the Digital Agency of the Decade, most prominently for their orchestration of the Nike+ campaign. With both agencies as leading case studies, Adweek recently profiled how these top agencies are striving to deliver on the original vision of dot-com era digital shops – acting as management consultants and innovation experts by using technology to not just communicate with customers, but also to invent new businesses.

Razorfish was recently brought in as a partner on a Citigroup and Microsoft venture, Bundle.com – an independent brand and personal finance site that uses data visualization of personal spending data to help consumers compare their spending/saving habits. What made Razorfish’s role in the venture unique was the depth of involvement – as a partner, and not just a vendor or ad agency. In addition to “loaning out” CTO Ray Valez as the startup’s interim CTO, Razorfish designed the site, built the tech infrastructure and developed the social strategy. Finally, they will advise on Bundle’s development of an ad-based business model.

R/GA has termed its approach for acting as an innovation engine for its clients as ”platforms plus campaigns.” The central idea being that clients, many of them in commoditized industries, need innovation before communications. Long-lasting digital innovation will supply a message and value that a campaign can then communicate, and draw people in with. In other words, “build it, tell them about, and they will come”…vs. telling them to come without having substance to engage consumers with.

Razorfish and R/GA’s approach to position each respective shop as a partner in technological innovation – and not just as a digital advertising and communications agency – promises to deliver long-term viability, technological relevance and the ability to differentiate in a competitive agency landscape.  However, as we recently discussed, agencies should also be prepared to launch some of their more innovative ideas and digital products independently of their clients – particularly when some of those great ideas die as a result of client organizational politics. The Nokia Vine application developed by R/GA, for instance, died ahead of its time – the location-based service could have competed with Foursquare – but could not survive the differences held between Nokia’s Technology and Marketing departments.