Staying a step ahead has always been a requisite for agencies to thrive in the ever-changing marketing communications industry. If the past two years have presented difficult, unanticipated and even unimaginable challenges for businesses all around the globe, these two years have also been an affirmation that massive change and transformation are accelerating in uncertain times and even more than thought possible.
When members of ICOM, the world’s most geographically diverse global network of independent marketing communication agencies, convene this week in France for the first in person ICOM World Meeting since 2019, the agencies are continuing to metamorphose to meet new needs of clients.
“When we bring our members from all over the world together for global and regional meetings, we do so to equip them with the latest resources and knowledge to remain at the forefront of our industry as we also prepare for the future,” said ICOM Board Chairman Bob Morrison, also CEO-Morrison, Atlanta, Ga., USA. “This meeting importantly focuses on what the impact the metaverse is going to have on our industry given that a recent study found that one of every four people in the world will spend at least one hour a day in the metaverse by 2026.”
At the three-day meeting in Paris and Lille, hosted by ICOM’s French agency member, .becoming, the event’s theme of “Metamorphose,” is front and center.
“We have learned that neither ignoring change nor just trying to live with it will result in a winning game plan,” said ICOM Executive Director Emma Keenan. “When our agencies and their businesses encourage, embrace and even leverage change, they find that new opportunities and new worlds open.”
During the event, members are exploring how to create agency-wide differentiation in a world of hybrid work, how to rethink “the war for talent” through different employee experiences and what role agencies should play in the convergence of virtual reality and a second digital life.
In welcoming attendees, Christophe Levyfve, President of .becoming, France and Belgium, and ICOM European Regional Director, is sharing his agency’s experience about why this meeting’s theme is so crucial to each ICOM agency and the network. “Our talent, clients, prospects and suppliers are all demanding complete innovation. We must help brands improve people’s lives. Not simply let it be known,” he said. “Over the course of our three days together, we’ll explore the metamorphose of our industry and our ways of working.”
Among the guest speakers are Robin Bonn, London-based business transformation consultant and founder, Co:definery, discussing “Designing Differentiation: A Framework for Modern Agency Standout,” a session exploring how traditional approaches to agency differentiation are at odds with clients’ needs; and Lucy Goode, a London-based people strategy consultant, organizational psychologist, coach and headhunter, speaking about “Rethinking the War for Talent: Differentiation through Employee Experience,” presenting a fresh approach to talent strategy.
Indicating the anticipated significance of the metaverse, participants are spending a half day of examining where agencies fit into this convergence of virtual reality and a second digital life. This session is led by Morgan Bouchet, VP-Global Head of XR, spatial computing and metaverses at Paris-based Orange France, and Manuel Valente, Research Director, Coinhouse, France. Their talks lead into a panel of ICOM agencies sharing what they are doing in the world of augmented reality, artificial intelligence and the metaverse to better serve their clients.
Participants then visit “Eternal Notre-Dame Experience,” a virtual reality tour of Notre-Dame cathedral, as an excellent example of how AR and other new technology can be used to educate, promote and finance a good cause, in this case the restoration of the cathedral after a devastating fire in 2019. Visitors are welcomed to a dedicated space equipped with an immersive VR device to hear and see the cathedral’s history from the Middle Ages to the current restoration project, financed in part by a percentage of ticket prices.
For one day, participants live the experience of GARAGE in Lille, where .becoming teams work. It's a new space and company which aims for the companies that work there can attract clients, nurture innovation and turn a costly and partially occupied headquarters building into a revenue-generating place, hosts not only a workspace but various five-star services nurturing innovation and offering exciting experiences and socialization for not just employees but also the public.
“We see every day this fulfills one of the requirements of employees of tomorrow who will want to know what their employers will give them in and out of the office. It also allows an office economy cheaper and more creative in human and business values than simple offices,” Levyfve said.
The rehabilitated 3,500 square meters of space across three floors includes in addition to a workspace, a concept store changing monthly where the public can try out new creative lifestyle products, a restaurant that has a different guest chef and cuisine every quarter, exhibition space, conference facilities and a state-of-the-art studio where futuristic consumer goods prototypes can be developed.
During the visit, Thomas Coldefy, international award-winning architect and designer of GARAGE, and GARAGE founder Levyfve speak about space of the future, what fueled the ideas behind GARAGE, how it was financed and the benefits it brings for becomers (as agency employees are called), clients and the general public.
ICOM is among the world’s largest and most geographically diverse networks of independent advertising and marketing communications agencies, with 70+ member agencies in 50+ countries. Annual gross income exceeds US$500 million.
.becoming helps brands improve people's lives by supporting clients in France, Belgium and around the world related to its three businesses: entrepreneurship, technical innovation and communication. “When we succeed, it’s thanks to the entrepreneurial genetics of the group, the collaborative structure of our methods and to combining entrepreneurship, technology, innovation and communication.”
The origins of Garage date back to 2013, when .becoming managers decided to take on a triple challenge: how to attract clients, nurture innovation and turn a costly and partially occupied headquarter building into a living and revenue-generating place. After seven years, Garage turned an 80-year-old Peugeot car garage into a unique business, trade and innovation ecosystem.
MEDIA CONTACTS
Emma Keenan, ICOM Executive Director
[email protected]
+33-66-348-0137
Nancy Giges, ICOM Media Relations Director
[email protected]
+1-914-683-5108