30 second TV ad. What’s the question?

Internet advertising now accounts for over 10% of the UK advertising market, and is set to overtake national press, according to a recent report by the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB). The IAB even forecast that the spend on internet advertising will out-strip TV spend by the end of the decade (Digital Review Blog has  a more detailed discussion.)

But if the internet is such an important channel for communication, how come so many agencies still seem start their creative development with ideas for 30 second TV spots? This happened only last week, when a famous agency presented ideas for the global re-launch of $2billion food brand that shall remain nameless to save embarrassment for all concerned.

The way forward has to be an end to the approach of "TV-first, adapt for other channels", and instead a  process of developing a big communication idea and showing how it can work across channels. Everyone is, of course, talking the talk of "integrated communication planning" and/or "360 communication", but its harder to find people actually doing it.

Suggestions on brands and, more importantly, agencies who really get this?

5-minute workout: are you starting with a big comms. idea, and then figuring out how to activate across all channels… or still stuck in the "TV first" mindset of the past?