The ONE thing that could actually work out in the Accenture/Droga5 union

Like everyone in the advertising industry, I’ve been trying very hard to wrap my mind around Accenture’s surprise Droga5 acquisition, announced on Thursday.

I have seen tens of (more-or-less nuanced) analysis pieces and hundreds of (not-so-nuanced) comments on Fishbowl and Twitter about it. I’m certain you have too so apologies in advance for this one; I’ll make it quick.

Apart from the irony that, while every advertising pundit declares the agency holding model dead, the already 450,000-strong Accenture is building up a brand new one from scratch, I remain skeptical about the consultancy’s ability to integrate, let alone nurture, Droga5’s and other independent shops’ creative culture. Don’t get me wrong: I am confident Accenture will leave maximum freedom to its ad agencies roster. However, consultancies’ model is about plugging in different know-hows to devise frameworks and scale them up, while sheer creativity is often messy and difficult to replicate at scale, which means it could get inefficient in the long term.

However, it has suddenly struck me that maybe we naysayers are too focused on Accenture’s shopping spree's impact on the “mere” communications industry. If one takes a step back, there’s actually one field in which a Droga/Accenture collaboration might work tremendously. A field that could be much more profitable: actual consumer product development. And by “actual”, I mean real, tangible BtC products and services, not two-day workshops and fancy innovation units developing disruptive ideas but which remain mostly PR-oriented.

Chutzpah and rigorousness, ideas and execution

This is one field neither consultancies nor agencies have managed to fully explore. As communications and consulting people, we are very good at explaining why other products are incredibly successful or fail miserably. The thing is, we seldom invent them ourselves. It is because most of the time, we only cover one portion of the value chain.

Actually, consultancies have the ability and the discipline to secure a business plan, then prototype and develop services, plus the clout required to take ideas up the decision ladder. On the other hand, communications people have of course creativity and chutzpah on their side, but also something else that is often overlooked: the ability to deeply understand people and dig up insights to exploit. Except this time, consumer knowledge would not only be used to adjust communications about already existing products ­ — it would be the very basis for new products. If put together, both sides could finally cover the complete value chain and transform R&D across numerous industries.

Of course, this is a very long shot. To work, such a venture would mean hiring people from very different backgrounds than advertising, consumer research or consulting. It would mean bringing more engineers, scientists and retail experts in so as to turn neat PowerPoint concepts into real-world products. And above all, it would mean taking much more financial risk. But still, being able to fully externalize R&D for major brands or even create one’s own products could represent an incredible payoff in the long run. Could the next Glossier, the next Airbnb, come from a communications company?