If you are thinking of JWT, Ogilvy, BBDO, McCann, Lowe etc. then like me you are thinking wrong. Numbers 1 and 2 in the USA are companies you have never heard of – Epsilon and Acxiom.
Epsilon ended 2011 with 898 million dollars in revenue. Acxiom was at 656 million. And what do these companies do? Well, now get ready for some shock and awe.
Epsilon is essentially a credit card marketing company and their principal line of business is permission-based email marketing. Acxiom is, like Epsilon, a large cruncher of data. Both of them shun the sexy end of the advertising business (creative and media).
Most ad industry Pundits complain of being squeezed between client pressure and the relentless onslaught of technology. They are right but the real danger to them may lie in their inability to step outside of their self-defined industry boxes.
There’s revenue waiting to be scooped up; it’s just not in the areas where agencies have traditionally gone hunting.
Epsilon has a wonderful tag line that sums up their approach to business:
“Marketing As Usual. Not A Chance”.
