B&TB&TB&T
  • Advertising
  • Campaigns
  • Marketing
  • Media
  • Technology
  • Regulars
    • Agency Scorecards
    • Best of the Best
    • Campaigns of the Month
    • CMO Power List
    • CMOs to Watch
    • Culture Bites
    • Fast 10
    • New Business Winners
    • Spotlight on Sponsors
  • Jobs
  • Awards
    • 30 Under 30
    • B&T Awards
    • Cairns Crocodiles
    • Women In Media
    • Women Leading Tech
Search
Trending topics:
  • Cairns Crocodiles
  • Nine
  • Seven
  • Federal Election
  • Pinterest
  • AFL
  • WPP
  • AI
  • Anthony Albanese
  • NRL
  • EssenceMediaCom
  • Thinkerbell
  • News Corp
  • Channel 10
  • Spotlight on Sponsors
  • State of Origin
  • Cairns Hatchlings
  • TV Ratings
  • Radio Ratings
  • Sports Marketing

  • About
  • Contact
  • Editorial Guidelines
  • Privacy
  • Terms
  • Advertise
© 2025 B&T. The Misfits Media Company Pty Ltd.
Reading: Many Agencies Still Do 20th Century Marketing: TBWA’s Tuomas Peltoniemi
Share
B&TB&T
Subscribe
Search
  • Advertising
  • Campaigns
  • Marketing
  • Media
  • Technology
  • Regulars
    • Agency Scorecards
    • Best of the Best
    • Campaigns of the Month
    • CMO Power List
    • CMOs to Watch
    • Culture Bites
    • Fast 10
    • New Business Winners
    • Spotlight on Sponsors
  • Jobs
  • Awards
    • 30 Under 30
    • B&T Awards
    • Cairns Crocodiles
    • Women In Media
    • Women Leading Tech
Follow US
  • About
  • Contact
  • Editorial Guidelines
  • Privacy
  • Terms
  • Advertise
© 2025 B&T. The Misfits Media Company Pty Ltd.
B&T > Advertising > Many Agencies Still Do 20th Century Marketing: TBWA’s Tuomas Peltoniemi
AdvertisingDisruptionFeatured

Many Agencies Still Do 20th Century Marketing: TBWA’s Tuomas Peltoniemi

John Bastick
Published on: 3rd December 2015 at 4:33 PM
John Bastick
Share
3 Min Read
SHARE

The traditional way many agencies work with their clients is out of date and no longer resonates with modern, tech-savvy businesses.

That’s the view of  TBWA’s innovation director Tuomas Peltoniemi who was speaking at the Daze of Disruption conference at Melbourne’s Crown Casino this afternoon.

Peltoniemi argued the old model was bust and agencies needed to have the expertise to solve a wealth of client’s problems, not just their creative marketing ones.

When TBWA wanted to work with Airbnb recently they did the typical thing to pitch by showcasing their previous work. Explains Peltoniemi: “The company founder, Brian Chesky, came back to us and said, ‘It’s fantastic work but it’s 20th century marketing and we’re a 21st century company’.

“It was a real wake-up call for us about how we do business and how we needed to transform the entire agency. We soon realised we were good at marketing concepts but we weren’t great at solving our customer’s business problems. And it was Chesky who said, ‘You guys really need to change the way you work as a creative agency if you want to work with clients like us.”

Peltoniemi said the company looked to Silicon Valley for inspiration. Companies there, he said, are entrepreneurial, they’re product-first in their thinking, they want the customer to interact with their brands, they’re message driven and community focused.

So what TBWA attempted to do was change the agency-client relationship which typically goes: client briefs agency, they come up with the strategy, the creative, they launch, and you wait for the next block of work. “We were so busy trying to change the client we never thought about changing ourselves,” he confessed.

“Agencies have to align their business objectives with their client’s. When you can both work to the same goal then that becomes very, very powerful. It’s no longer a linear process, it’s a daily process, it’s about working with all the parts of your client’s business, too.

“We had to become more agile and we’re now working with 21st century clients such as Netflix, Twitter, Snapchat and Slack,” he said.

Join more than 30,000 advertising industry experts
Get all the latest advertising and media news direct to your inbox from B&T.

No related posts.

TAGGED: Advertising Standards Bureau, Joshua Spanier, reno rumble
Share
By John Bastick
Follow:
John Bastick has edited B&T since 2015, making him one of the title's longest serving editors. In that time he has overseen B&T's rise to fame and fortune. He is one of Australia's foremost authorities on all things advertising, marketing and media. Prior to editing B&T, John built a scintillating career as a pioneer in the highly successful Men's Magazine category.

Latest News

TV Ratings (12/6/2025): 1.4 Million People Viewed The Western Bulldogs Kicking Its Way Into The Top Eight
13/06/2025
WARC Downgrades Global Ad Spend Forecast Amid “Trade Tensions” & Uncertain Tech Market
13/06/2025
Marketers Call For Measurement ‘Parity’ In Video, But One Buyer Warns ‘Be Careful What You Wish For’
13/06/2025
Meta Cracks Down On Nudify Apps & Sues Hong Kong Developer Behind CrushAI
13/06/2025
//

B&T is Australia’s leading news publication magazine for the advertising, marketing, media and PR industries.

 

B&T is owned by parent company The Misfits Media Company Pty Ltd.

About B&T

  • About
  • Contact
  • Editorial Guidelines
  • Privacy
  • Terms
  • Advertise

Top Categories

  • Advertising
  • Campaigns
  • Marketing
  • Media
  • Opinion
  • Technology
  • TV Ratings

Sign Up for Our Newsletter



B&TB&T
Follow US
© 2025 B&T. The Misfits Media Company Pty Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Register Lost your password?