About all they have in common is the word "agency" – but that appears to be enough for now.

Hollywood's oldest talent shop, the 110-year-old William Morris Agency, is partnering with a triumvirate of digital media, wireless and advertising executives to create a joint venture called Agency 3.0, a digital-marketing-services company seeking to marry digital technology to strategically developed content.

Greg Johnson, a partner in Agency 3.0, told Ad Age that TV advertising 'is becoming less effective,' in part because 'it's highly disconnected from the creative process.'

Power players.

That trio of executives includes Peter Adderton, founder of both Boost Mobile and Amp'd Mobile; Greg Johnson, a former chief creative officer at McCann Worldgroup and Digitas; and Steve Stanford, who created rival talent agency ICM's digital media group and who had more recently served as general manager of HBO and AOL's broadband comedy joint venture.

In an interview with Ad Age, Mr. Johnson said TV advertising "is becoming less effective," in part because "it's highly disconnected from the creative process." His partners' new venture aims to "bring the ad dollars that much closer to the creative process," Mr. Johnson said.

Time for a new approach.

"There's a whole new world in the marketing, distribution and monetization of digital media, with unique demands for new approaches to both design and implementation," said Jim Wiatt, William Morris' CEO. "We recently announced a digital-media venture fund, and now with Agency 3.0, we'll be providing services as well as making investments in this sector."

Peter Adderton is the founder of both Boost Mobile and Amp'd Mobile.

Mr. Stanford, who also founded and served as CEO of Voce premium wireless, noted that thanks to the protracted Writers Guild of America strike (which hinged, aptly enough, on digital distribution of content), the recent upfront advertising presentations made by broadcast TV networks reveal a business that has been totally reshaped by digital. NBC Universal's upfront ad presentation, for example, touted all of the NBC Universal properties, including various cable networks, web operations and amusement parks -- not just its 52-week network-TV schedule.

"People would spend millions on pilots and have no idea if anybody would watch them," Mr. Stanford said. "Today, things have changed; a show that has sponsors already in place has a much better chance of airing."

The new advertising joint venture's chief creative officer will be Scott Anderson, the former creative head and co-founder with Mr. Adderton of Boost Mobile and Amp'd Mobile. Like the rest of the team, he will be based at William Morris' Beverly Hills headquarters.

BEVERLY HILLS, May 21: William Morris Agency (WMA) has teamed with Peter Adderton, the founder of Boost Mobile and Amp’d Mobile, and a team of digital-media executives, to form Agency 3.0.

The venture aims to merge technology and content to create digital-media businesses across multiple platforms for consumer brand, technology, telecom and entertainment companies. Core offerings include digital strategy implementation, new product and brand development, content creation and user interface and content platforms.

“There’s a whole new world in the marketing, distribution and monetization of digital media, with unique demands for new approaches to both design and implementation,” said Jim Wiatt, the chairman and CEO of WMA. “Peter and the team we have assembled at Agency 3.0 are the best there are in recognizing trends and creating digital businesses ahead of the curve. We recently announced a digital media venture fund and now with Agency 3.0, we’ll be providing services as well as making investments in this sector.”

Adderton will serve as the chairman and CEO of Agency 3.0, with Greg Johnson as partner and president for brands and agencies; Steve Sanford as partner and president of content and entertainment; and Scott Anderson as partner and chief creative officer.

“Experience has taught us how to work with advertisers and brands in the digital media space, and we earned ‘Entertainment Marketer of the Year’ awards at both Amp’d and Boost Mobile where we demonstrated that design, branding and tailored content through an integrated user experience could drive rapid adoption,” Adderton said. “With Greg’s pioneering work in the digital agency world, Steve’s digital content prowess and Scott’s branding genius, we formed a team at Agency 3.0 with unparalleled creativity and technical expertise to integrate branding and distribution across all digital platforms. Our partnership with William Morris Agency gives us incredible access to their talent, content and the entertainment business as a whole, which will play very well into our efforts at both brand marketing and content distribution.”

Agency 3.0 is located on site at WMA’s Beverly Hills headquarters.

Former Amp’d Mobile founder Peter Adderton has resurfaced on the entrepreneurial circuit via a new venture he’s launching today in partnership with the William Morris Agency.

Mr. Adderton and William Morris said they have formed Agency 3.0, an agency that will focus on working with companies, content providers and advertisers to develop digital strategies.

“There’s a whole new world in the marketing, distribution and monetization of digital media, with unique demands for new approaches to both design and implementation,” said William Morris Chairman-CEO Jim Wiatt in a statement Wednesday.

Mr. Adderton, whose last venture, Amp’d Mobile, filed for bankruptcy, will be chairman and CEO of Agency 3.0. He will focus on mobile and wireless clients.

Agency 3.0 is located on site at William Morris’ Beverly Hills headquarters.

Boost Mobile founder Peter Adderton hopes to put his experience building a mobile phone service brand from scratch to use building a new kind of agency.

Adderton has joined two executives from Boost and Greg Johnson, a former director of Interpublic Group's Emerging Media Lab, to launch Agency 3.0, which will work with technology firms to develop consumer brands and conversely help consumer companies embed technology in their offerings.
 
"We're tying to put something together that's attacking the next generation of what an agency should look like," said Johnson, who will serve as president of brands and agencies.
 
William Morris, the Hollywood talent agency, is backing the company with an undisclosed investment.
 
Steve Stanford, formerly vp of marketing at Boost and co-founder of Amp'd Mobile with Adderton, said the experience of building the Boost brand pointed to the need for a SWAT team that could create brands from scratch, working on everything from identity to user interfaces and marketing strategy.
 
"There was no one place that had all the skill sets we needed," said Stanford, who is Agency 3.0's president of content and entertainment. "We had to work with a variety of agencies. Some were great at making communications. Or doing strategy. But we found we were more innovative than our agencies were."
 
Agency 3.0 executives said the shop has clients, but they declined to disclose them. Other partners include Scott Anderson, former creative head of Boost, who will serve as chief creative officer.
 
A typical engagement, they said, would be for the 15-person team to work with a technology company like Cisco to build a consumer brand after years of operating as an infrastructure provider.
 
It also plans to work with companies to create branded entertainment by tapping into William Morris and Stanford's connections as the creator of ICM's digital media group.
 
"Historically, the brands have been the last guys to the table and fund these [media] companies," Anderson said. "We'd like to help brands be at the front of the line. We want to help them own a piece of their digital future."
 
As for the name, Johnson said it's a "working title" that could change, but it was meant to represent how the company wants to evolve the agency model.
 
"We've brought together skill sets that don't just generate demand but help to build businesses," he said. "We're trying to take complex stories and build products and bring them to market in unique ways."