It’s undeniable when you start to look at any of the large marketing and advertising agencies out there, most of them have got at least some sort of presence in New York City. But now it’s not just the big guys that own the big apple.
Decades ago, New York was dominated by big agencies who had the largest brands. Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal, McCann, JWT, Ogilvy, and more have been long-standing pillars. But fast forward to today, and now you see hundreds of big and small top marketing agencies in New York.
Every day new shops open their doors. Whether they’re boutique agencies, specializing in niche categories or full-service agencies covering a broad set of disciplines, they’ve been expanding in volume to cover the city.
After all, there is a huge talent pool hitting the streets of New York on an annual basis from a whole host of marketing and advertising focused colleges that reside in and around the city. This fresh talent is hungry to walk the bustling city streets, living in the city that never sleeps and maybe even one day seeing their own work propped up on the side of the many buildings they pass by each day.
All that said, I’ve seen it argued that there is a migration from New York to other growing agency-centric cities like Los Angeles and San Fransisco. Creative talent has been attracted away from the big apple to agencies built around the growing high tech boom. They’re pitched on the sunny weather, warm beaches and in some cases slower pace of life. As such, from an agency standpoint, California is one of the other major hubs you’ll see multi-location agencies having a significant presence.
What does the future hold for New York? Will it continue to be the center of the universe for marketing and ad agencies, as it has in the past? One thing is for sure, the world is continuing to become more globalized. Where one works, and how they work is less important that the work they do. In the tech industry, its become more prevalent to have a virtual workforce. Will the marketing industry follow this lead? Does an agency have to have a New York office to compete? Only time will tell.