| Noelle Weaver |
It's probably the time of year when we're the most informed of what's going on in the world.
Last year at this time I wrote a post asking all of you to predict the trends you felt would most drive or significantly change small agency business in 2007.
There were some pretty good comments from Small Agency Diary readers. Looking back over them I'm amazed by how many people predicted the need for greater collaboration among more firms providing specialized services and/or goods (open-source, collaboration, partnerships, etc.)
2007 started off with "consumer-generated content" as the most over-used (and annoying) industry jargon which evolved over the year to become "engaging the consumer" and, headed towards '08, we're currently experiencing a wave of "behavioral targeting" no matter which way we look.
Someone already prophesized that next year the amount of reruns on TV (due to the writers strike) will drive even more people to find their entertainment online in places like YouTube. At the same time, an NPR snippet reports that the growth of "amateur" content will slow down as more and more professional and semi-professional producers place their content online where a new wave of talent scouts are lurking hoping to find 2008's "next big undiscovered thing."
Things moved quickly this year. So fast as a matter of fact that I'm not sure what I did with half of it except maybe a few too many pitches and late nights at the agency. Is 2008 going to go by even quicker and with more work demands?
Rob Albertson from Illinois also made a similar prediction last year, "Frenetic pace of agency work forces top 10 lists to turn into top 3 lists -- so we're done."
Which means I'll keep this post short but not before asking:
Small Agency Diary readers, what do you think will be the big industry changes and trends that will affect your business most next year?
