Also in this report:

* Drumming up Extranet business p.18

* Valu-net banks on virtual mall: Company positioned as one-stop shop for all the needs of prospective on-line retailers p.23

* Jockey Club goes after tech-savvy crowd p.24

* Salesforce automation requires careful planning p.25

For multinational ad agencies, it’s the great technological dream: to be able to work with clients anywhere in the world as if they were just next door.

While that capability doesn’t exist yet – give it at least a year, experts say – new communications tools have helped leading Canadian agencies get closer both to clients and to other offices in their worldwide networks.

Video conferencing, for one, is used with increasing frequency; some agencies now even have their own in-house facilities. It’s an expensive tool, however, and by no means seamless, unless users at both ends are employing identical technology and protocols.

Internet usage, unsurprisingly, is widespread. Many agencies are also using Intranet systems that connect staff within the organization – and in some cases, clients as well.

Extranets linking agency and client will likely become common in future, but for now that technology is mainly in the trial stages (see story, below).

For this report, Strategy asked three top Canadian agencies how they are adapting technology and communications tools to their needs.

Leo Burnett, Toronto

Joyce Seto, information technology manager for Leo Burnett, says the Chicago-based agency network is currently attempting to set up a global Intranet for all of its offices around the world.

‘We’re hooked up right now via Internet e-mail,’ Seto says. ‘What we’re hoping to achieve is a virtual private network. That’s the ultimate goal.’

Leo Burnett’s size is an advantage, because it creates economies of scale. Smaller agencies would find it difficult to adopt the technology as quickly, she says.

Seto says an Intranet pilot project is now underway, using GroupWise software as the basis of the infrastructure. The agency is also testing a link for clients, using Lotus Notes as the platform. Participating Leo Burnett agencies and clients can dial into the server at the Chicago head office to access account-related information and presentations.

One of the long-term goals, Seto says, is to have a system in place that would allow creative to be sent back and forth electronically.

Leo Burnett in Toronto has its own video conferencing setup on site. However, Seto says it’s not being used that much at present for communication with clients, because of technological incompatibility problems.

TBWA Chiat/Day, Toronto

Steve Hancock, president of TBWA Chiat/Day, says the primary means of moving information between the network’s offices is e-mail, via an Intranet that links all the North American offices, as well as those in key European markets. (Video conferencing is also sometimes used for communication between sister agencies.)

E-mail has become a key mode of communication with clients as well. Presentations and other documents are routinely sent via e-mail. Mailing creative, however, is a little more problematic: A lot of clients, Hancock says, still lack technology sophisticated enough to handle large file sizes.

That’s a problem the agency hopes to circumvent. In the meantime, he says, TBWA Chiat/Day is looking to get on-line with production houses in order to be able to ship creative files back and forth with them.

Also in the works is a system whereby clients will be able to access the agency’s file server, to study documents such as media reports.

For research purposes, Hancock says, the Internet can prove an invaluable tool. TBWA Chiat/Day, in fact, has a team based in New York that conducts global focus groups on the Internet.

‘We’re doing some work for Apple, trying to get a fast read on what people around the world feel about the company,’ Hancock says. ‘We can very quickly get a global perspective on what consumers are thinking. It’s not the world’s most perfect sample, but it’s time-saving and cost-effective.’

MacLaren McCann, Toronto

Erwin Buck, executive vice-president and cfo of MacLaren McCann, says the move to adopt new technology on the agency side is primarily client-driven. As clients introduce new and more sophisticated systems, agencies must respond to meet their needs.

The agency’s New York office, he says, has been on the forefront of new technologies, because of its need to deal with offices and clients around the world.

MacLaren McCann has its own Intranet, and is also connected to the Intranet systems of some of its clients.

MacLaren’s largest client in this country, General Motors of Canada, is hooked into the agency’s Intranet for the electronic exchange of e-mail and documents.

In some cases, Buck says, the agency is also hooked into a client’s voice-mail system, eliminating the need to make outside telephone calls.

MacLaren’s New York office uses video conferencing extensively for communication with its sister agencies. The Canadian agencies aren’t yet employing it to the same degree, Buck says. However, they have begun to explore the more economical alternative of video conferencing via computer technology.

Buck says MacLaren has ‘probably made more of an investment in technology than we have in anything in the past. It’s so pervasive now, in terms of how it affects our communications with clients, but also with suppliers.’

On the media side, he notes, many newspapers will now accept ads in the form of electronic files, rather than film.

While the administrative side of the agency business may not be quite so high-profile, considerable technological strides have been made there, too.

The industry is working toward Electronic Data Interchange (edi) standards for advertising sales in all media. Ultimately, Buck says, media contracts will be sent out electronically, and billing and affidavits from the media will be handled the same way.

MacLaren McCann does a lot of its billing electronically – and one of its largest clients even pays electronically.

Buck says this eliminates a lot of paperwork. Still, for those on the financial side of the business, it may diminish the quality of life just fractionally. After all, there’s nothing more satisfying than holding a large cheque in your hands.