Interesting news today of consolidation – digital agency LBi (Lost Boys International) has merged with Obtineo, parent to search marketing specialist Bigmouthmedia (read the story on Econsultancy here).

Bigmouthmedia CEO Mark Bole said: “For the past 18 months both bigmouthmedia and LBi have seen a real shift in client sentiment in regards to agencies: clients are increasingly looking for best in class agencies with the capability to cover all aspects of the digital universe – integrating search and digital media with creative and technology supported by strong transparent measurement – and the combined expertise of both companies will put us in a strong position to meet this demand.”

I couldn’t agree more with Mark. We’ve seen exactly the same shift, although for longer than the last 18 months. Steak launched as a search agency in 2005 but within 6 months we made the decision to become a full service digital agency with integration and results at our core. This has benefited our clients enormously and Steak has become the first port of call with most of our partners. Nice to see further confirmation that we had the right idea! However the real question is what’s next for agencies to offer, or should I say what’s on clients’ agendas right now.

Ollie Bishop, Co-founder and CEO