Just as marketing structural alignment is necessary for companies to successfully execute IMC programs, so too is the structural alignment of the “agency” partner. Again, traditional marketing training and habits have left a residual imprint on many agencies—not all however. There is an emerging class of interactive, creative, and relatively young agencies, as well as some transformed agencies that have foreseen the impact of new technologies. They have intuitively and purposefully engaged audiences the way they want to be engaged. These agencies are by necessity a talented mix, infusing digital natives with universal and traditional marketing practices

Their business models support the nuanced intricacies demanded by holistic integrated marketing. Their staffs are prepared to put the same creative energy into the preparation of a sales meeting as they would for a national ad. They do not suffer from a long-engrained culture weaned on mass media and expectations of silver-bullet solutions to drive objectives. This new form of innovation has come from nimble agencies that have integrated their own companies as well as their marketing approaches—agencies who have created a culture where all marketing initiatives are given equal value, where account executives and creatives have cross-disciplined responsibilities and sensibilities, and where research, planning, PR, promotions, interactive, and media are all integrated at all touch points, not with different names and agendas.

Creating this culture takes time and there is a certain trial and error involved. Teams are formed from practice and cohesive, integrated teams play an integral role in producing effective IMC programs. More members need be engaged; there are more disciplines to bridge. The hierarchical model struggles because great internal communications come from transparency, inclusion, and dialogue, not just need-to-know information. It’s a big round table and reflects the greater egalitarian view of new media and progressive companies. That is not to say there is not order and structure. Internal agency integration requires the seamless interface of many disciplines: Habits in process must become instinctual, problems must be solved with a multitask approach, and a holistic mentality must prevail (a constant looking up at the big picture while exercising passion on the small details). These elements comprise an ordered process incorporating traditional marketing disciplines, overlaid with new solutions technologies. An agency culture fostering dialogue where the individual members who are speaking different trade languages and have different experience and expertise communicate faultlessly, with open door, cross-disciplined seating to erase departmental thinking. The agency is patterned after the holistic integration it pursues for marketing effectiveness and success.