Several network agencies also came to talk to us. Saatchi & Saatchi showed some wonderful work from around the world, including the outrageous Teletransporter campaign for Andes beer, while Grey did a convincing job of showing us a network which is small and lean enough to allow clients to become closer to the process, in the way that smaller independent agencies often achieve better. But as usual with the network agencies I had this nagging doubt: would clients in the Czech Republic really have access to this talent and resource? What is the advantage of a network agency in Prague, 2010?
The answer came in spectacular fashion from McCann-Erickson. Lee Daley and John Wright showed us how the agency has developed a system which would allow it to immediately assemble the right team for a client project from any one of its 19,800 global employees. It isn't fully live yet (but will be within weeks), and I am not sure that we are permitted to give out too much detail. But I was not the only one in the room who was seriously impressed.
Network offices in Prague have been accused of not really offering much beyond the logo; the resource does not in reality stretch beyond the people in the Prague office. McCann's new system challenges this assumption. But as the plane commenced its gentle descent towards my Czech island home, I felt myself returning to Czech reality. Faced with the possibility of choosing an agency team from 20,000 talented people around the globe, how many Czech-based clients would be serious about utilising their talent?
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