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Over the last decade, social media has dramatically shifted the media environment, changing how we communicate, collaborate, and create (Di Gangi and Wasko 2009; Hanna et al., 2011). Social media refers to digital technologies emphasizing user-generated content, interaction via web-based platforms (Boyd and Ellison, 2007; Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010) that has diversified communication interaction (Mangold and Faulds, 2009) and has a transformative impact on adverting agency business (Wind and Sharp, 2009; Freytag and Clarke, 2012). Once dominated by mass media such as television, radio, print, and outdoor, the advertising industry has expanded to include new technologies and digital media that are more dynamic, interactive, and fragmented (Mangold and Faulds, 2009; Knoll, 2016). Advertising agencies also have adopted new models and expanded their services according to new markets and advertisers' needs (Okazaki and Taylor, 2013; Wind and Sharp, 2009; Hanna et al., 2011). In addition, specialized digital agencies have been established to offer new expertise and address the new forms of communication and advertising as traditional agencies were slow or resistant to accommodate (Durkin and Lawlor, 2001; Freytag and Clarke, 2012). As a result, advertising agencies quickly enhanced creativity to digital advertising as advertising shifted from traditional to digital media space.
The latest technologies and social media have significant implications on the marketing and advertising industry (Tapp and Hughes, 2004; Hanna et al., 2011); increasingly transforming the way agencies relate to employees and build relationships with remote talents, collaborate, and crowdsource new ideas (Di Gangi and Wasko 2009; Argueta and Pérez-Latre, 2018). Moreover, social media developments enabled higher interactivity, customization, diverse interactions and generated various meanings for marketers and advertisers (Kotler and Lee, 2008). As consumers have shifted attention and advertisers have expanded their requirements, advertising agencies are changing their business models, organization, and services (Durkin and Lawlor, 2001; Freytag and Clarke, 2012). With these shifts in demands and new markets, advertising agencies are developing their expertise in a new set of skills and services, incorporating digital and new media strategies into integrated campaigns. These new tasks require new knowledge and new types of experts that play new roles in the creative process (Montalvo, 2011), and advertising agencies can no longer build on its existing skills, mindsets, culture, and knowledge (Anderson and Tushman, 1990; Leonard-Barton, 1992). Therefore, it is interesting to explore social media possibilities and how advertising agencies adjust their activities regarding creative process and creativity management accordingly.
Social media provides and creates novel opportunities for individuals and communities, but also for firms and organizations. However, these possibilities bring challenges in agency management practice, creative processes, and their application at individual, group, organizational and cultural levels. Placing social media into organizational communication preferences expands the possibilities employees have at their disposal to display, test, and validate their work. Engaging employees through social media, they accept augments learning while their expertise with social media increases the likelihood of being more proactive and innovative (Sigala and Chalkiti 2015). Besides, interactivity in the communication of brands and consumers is a process where the business clients benefit from the creative and innovative deliverables produced by an advertising agency.