Despite all the focus on digital transformation, it’s still pretty tough out there for agencies and marketers. GroupM forecasts that 2017 may be the first year in many that digital advertising drops as a share of total ad spend. A Facebook/Google duopoly has emerged in media spending, with both offering agency-like services. P&G cut $100M in “ineffective” digital ads. Amazon is poised to disintermediate everything – including brands.

Digital marketing – and transformation – is exciting but can be scary in the face of powerful media and commerce players. We think it’s going to take more than trend spotting, digital dogma and creativity to propel marketing forward. It’s going to take hard skills (platform expertise across the entire marketing organization), hard work (ability to bring technology into every marketing effort), and hard choices (placing bets every year on technology applications), in order for agencies and marketers to succeed. Here’s how.