Is America Best At Digital?

Talking to the Guardian, Bob Jeffrey, head of JWT, says UK advertising has been slow to take up digital: "I think historically there was always an envy of the UK because there was a sense...that the UK could get away with work that was more irreverent, ironic and edgy.  Recently though the perception of the UK has changed.  I think the view has been that the UK has been too slow to adopt the internet, too slow to adopt digital."  Personally, I haven't seen any great evidence of US ad networks surging ahead in digital.  As Simon Andrews notes the only network to try and keep up with the really big structural changes is British-run WPP through it's purchase of 24/7 Real Media, while the biggest US digital agency, AQuantive's Avenue A/Razorfish, has just been snapped up by Microsoft, not an ad network.  Although Publicis' purchase of Digitas was significant.  Of course, the US has the massive advantage of having the world's most sophisticated tech-development camp sitting in its back yard in the shape of Silicon Valley.  However, there isn't much evidence of the US ad industry partnering with the wealth of engineering talent there.  I suspect Jefferies is referring to creative work.  But even that is contentious.  The US has some good shops but the UK has plenty of quality there too.  What is very clear is that all the major ad networks, be they British, American or French, were too busy protecting their TV revenues to recognise the threat of Google and are now having to spend heavily to get back in the game.  And they might all be too late.