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What is yet to be determined is how well the holding companies will grapple with the challenge of integration of their services. Over the years, they have bought up a wide variety of companies in different aspects of the marketing business, but there has not been a great deal of coordination among the various disciplines.

As a couple of forward-thinking agency executives were quoted as saying early, there is a need for some kind of general contractor or orchestra conductor to direct strategies for their clients and to coordinate the various marketing elements to form a cohesive campaign.

In many other business disciplines, this is the kind of activity that outside management consultants might normally perform. The holding companies would like to fill this vacuum, but they face an uphill struggle for a couple of reasons. The first is that they tend to be dominated by their advertising agency components, rather than their direct-marketing, sales promotion, or Web developer components. Another problem is the perception that a holding company could not be very objective in assembling the most effective network of companies to work on a client’s campaign. Clients would assume their agency would have a vested interest in assigning work only to other companies within the holding company. So far, the clients would be pretty accurate in that assessment.

The ultimate threat to this position by the holding companies is that some well-known, highly respected management consulting firms would build a substantial practice in marketing management. The consultants could position themselves to be the objective overseers of corporate marketing strategy, usurping a crucial role that the holding companies would dearly love to fill.

This is not unlike the function that management consultants and public accounting firms developed years ago in strategic management of technology and information services. They were not players in the technology business, so they were able to address the needs of a client with no preconceived notions or prejudices. And the clients loved this impartiality.

At the same time, it is possible that the consultants specializing in agency search might also try to usurp this function of strategic integration. That scenario, however, is less likely. Although they have developed their specific practices in agency evaluation and selection they generally lack the long-established relationship with corporate‘ clients as general consultants.

The major management consultants are in a more advantageous position to assume this role because they are already relating to corporate managers at the highest levels. They are already entrusted with some of the most sensitive research and analysis, probing the deepest secrets and pointing out the most serious weaknesses of a corporation. They are also more likely to be considered impartial by their clients because they aren’t in the marketing business themselves.

It is also possible that corporate clients might try to establish this kind of strategic planning function internally. This is especially true at large corporations with many different subsidiaries, brands, and products. The internal strategy group could operate as a kind of “SWAT team,” called in by various divisions to help develop campaigns, positioning, creative strategy, or whatever the unit needs.

There is, of course, always a political situation within corporations that works against this kind of internal function. There is also the downside of what may happen if the SWAT team totally misses its mark and comes up with an integrated campaign that turns out to be a bummer. It’s more difficult to fire employees than outside contractors.

This function of coordination and integration will first be demonstrated in the client-sponsored breakaway agencies previously mentioned. They would be best suited for the role because they are outside the client’s corporate realm yet in the best position to oversee all of the various marketing functions. They probably won’t even be called ad agencies anymore.

As you can see, the future of this strategic function is still a bit murky. If it is ultimately developed by the holding companies, it seems that it would have to exist as an entity separate from any other unit of the holding company. It has to be more than a bunch of former ad agency guys putting out a new shingle. What may eventually h_appen is that one or more of the holding companies might acquire general consulting firms and set up independent operations. You will know they are independent when they start recommending that part of a client’s work be assigned to units of a different holding company.

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