Dive Brief:

• One-third (34%) of marketers plan to increase their spending in traditional media this year, according to an annual survey from agency/client relationship firm RWS/US. 
• Only 19% of agencies expected their clients to increase spending on traditional media, instead looking to digital channels for increases. 
• More campaigns will be produced on a project basis, with 42% of marketers saying they will boost their reliance on project work instead of the agency of record model. 

Dive Insight:

Agencies and their clients aren’t on the same page when it comes to where they expect to allocate ad dollars in 2016. According to RWS/US’ annual “New Year, New Outlook” survey, 34% of marketers want to spend more on traditional media channels such as TV, radio, print, and direct mail, while their agencies consistently expect more increases to come from buys in the digital mobile and social media.

The report calls this disparity a “Troubling Trend,” and open-ended questions reveal that many clients are concerned that agencies are downplaying the traditional media in favor of the (shinier) new media. More marketers are ready to increase their overall spend this year, however, with 62% saying they will increase ad budgets “somewhat” or “significantly,” while only 49% of agencies expect the same.

“One trend I see is lack of ROI focus on emerging media vehicles (like social) and too much distraction over what’s new versus trying to prove what works,” one respondent says.

“They have fallen in love with technology to such an extent that they [have] forgotten how important it is to tell a compelling story and communicate,” says another.

These issues could explain why marketers are increasingly restless with the AOR model and employing multiple agencies or assigning work on a project basis. Similar numbers of agencies and marketers say that they expect to see more project work assigned in 2016, and almost three quarters (74%) of marketers say they used more than two agencies last year, up from 62% in 2014.