Someone described LOVE as a New Model Agency the other day. Where’s this new descriptor come from? Is it new? Has someone written a new book or article and invented this new term? If so, apologies for not referencing you.

Anyway, as a few of us are old enough to remember the eighties punk legends, New Model Army, we thought it sounded like quite a cool description. Trouble is, there’s very little in our structure or “model” that is particularly punk or revolutionary so we thought the descriptor wasn’t terribly justified.

Our supposedly radical approach has been to find a mix of interesting people from design, digital and advertising backgrounds and put them together in one big open plan space so they can collaborate in whatever way suits them on ideas for brands.

The model looks like this, if you’re interested :

Hardly rocket science. But then we had a look at a description of the original New Model Army from the 17th Century… “The New Model Army was an army based on a persons ability rather than ones position in society. The removal of the social obstacles meant that the New Model Army was open to new ideas and historical social status meant nothing.”…and something occured to us.

Maybe what makes new models difficult to implement is the interference or old habits of the bosses who try and implement them. Maybe the senior management in many of today’s agencies are the equivalent of the upper classes that tried to lead armies. They may not have all the best or most relevant ideas any more. Their model may not be right. Other people in the agency may have a better idea.

So in our view, the new model agency isn’t about models or structures at all. It’s all about a change in the nature of leadership. It’s about openness to new ideas and the confidence of management to let go and let the agency experiment.

Right, it’s 11am so us old farts are off for a long lunch. The rest of you can get on with it. Ta ta.

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