Mark Silveira at Ordinary Advertising reminisces about two clients who asked for, and got, great advertising. To help you understand how to get the advertising you think you deserve- he offers a list of 7 traits in a good client- but number 4 was worthy of mention here:
A Frank Appraisal at Ordinary Advertising
Neither of these clients believed the agency should be considered a “vendor” (more than a little demeaning) or a “partner” (utterly unrealistic), but rather as an “asset” of the client’s business to be taken care of in direct proportion to the return being generated from it.
I’ve seen hundreds of agency sites that talk about being a “partner” when in fact, the agency has nothing on the line- no risk, other than losing the business.
Considering your ad agency an “asset” fits much better - along with the understanding that the part of the balance sheet that accounts for “goodwill” and “brand value” comes in part from the client/agency relationship which should include an almost symbiotic relationship, an intertwining of DNA of the two organizations. Understanding a brand isn’t something that comes overnight or with a contract, it comes from insight gained over time.
In choosing an agency, look closely at what kind of agency you are retaining:
How long do people stay there?
Who owns the agency- and what is their personal stake (holding companies can be very cold bedfellows)?
How long do their client/agency relationships last?
Is there a passion for the craft, and your product in the agency?
What are the rewards for both sides if the relationship blossoms?
Are your expectations for advertising realistic?
Do you trust them as experts in the field?
In buying a piece of capital equipment- what do you look for?
How long it will be relevant to your processes?
Who makes it?
How do they treat their current customers?
Is it the best it can be for the money?
How does it pay off?
Will it do the job?
Is it the best solution?
See, your relationship with your agency is the same as that of your new CNC machine- and just like that CNC machine, it can only produce great work if there isn’t operator error- which brings us back to what Mark was talking about- and the idea of the relationship as an asset.
By now, every one has seen the Apple iPhone ad “Calamari” showcasing the Google maps function on the iPhone.
And, when typing in Pizza it does a great job around my home. It also works for locating the nearest Apple Store quite well. But, when typing in “Advertising Agency” nothing even close to an ad agency got a pin in Dayton. So, of course, I had to fix that. Google informs me it will take up to 4 weeks before my listing is updated (unbelievably slow in the Internet age)- but, it was incredibly easy, and the verification by phone system worked well.
If you haven’t put your business on the Google Maps page, I highly recommend doing it as soon as possible- and, if you are a Pizza place, you can even put a coupon on it for free! So, proceed to the following link and look for the “Add or Edit your business” part- make sure you are at your business phone and have a live internet connection at the same time. Google Maps
For right now, it’s cool to show up on iPhone users phones- but, soon, this will be more important than the Yellow Pages ever were. And, before you select an ad agency, that claims to be digitally literate, check out if they have a complete listing on Google Maps.
News Flash: the Federal Government just realized that minority firms aren’t getting their fair shake on Government contracts. How about throwing this into the equation: since 2003, there has been a Federal requirement for 3% of all Government contracts to be set aside to Service Disabled Veteran Owned Businesses. Now I can assure you that if only 5% is going to minority firms- which includes Women Owned, African American Owned, Native American Owned, Asian Indian owned, 8A firms, HUBZone located firms- and Service Disabled Veteran Owned Business owned- the SDVOB participation is an infinitesimally smaller fraction.
It’s not just the agencies at fault here, it’s also the Federal buyers who also don’t seem to risk anything by non-compliance. We’ve only just begun a conversation with GSD+M who are in the process of defending the Air Force recruiting contract. Our only contact previously, was from a mid-level exec at Leo Burnett far into the process for the botched US Army recruiting award, which Leo lost to McCann. McCann has hired a “Diversity” exec, but all calls to his office are met with a standard line that we aren’t approaching them correctly, do not pass go, do not collect $200.
Here are some excerpts from the Ad Age article:
Advertising Age - GAO: Only 5% of Government Ad Business Goes to Minority Firms
The U.S. government is doing a poor job of awarding small and minority firms advertising and public relations contracts, according to a Government Accountability Office study.
The GAO found that on average the government devoted 5% of its $4.3 billion in ad-related expenditures to small or minority businesses.
The GAO found that on average the government devoted 5% of its $4.3 billion in ad-related expenditures to small or minority businesses.
The GAO report released yesterday examined contracts from 2001 through 2005. It found that on average the government devoted 5% of its $4.3 billion in ad-related expenditures to small or minority businesses, but that compliance varied considerably among government agencies.
Treasury, Defense
The Department of Defense used minority firms for advertising only 1.8% of the time and paid them on average nearly 84% less than non-minority firms. The Treasury Department used minority firms for advertising only 1.9% of the time and paid them on average nearly 47% less per contract than ad contracts with non-minority firms. (Government numbers usually include work preparing brochures, hiring photographers and public-relations efforts along with traditional advertising.)….
The Defense Department’s $2.7 billion in spending surpassed all the other agencies combined. Health and Human Services spent $494 million and the Treasury $188 million during the five years studied.
Senators speak out
The GAO report has angered some Democrats. In letters sent the day of the report’s release, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada; Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Chairman John Kerry, D-Mass.; Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y;. and Congressional Black Caucus Chair Rep. Carol Kilpatrick, D-Mich., urged the Defense and Treasury departments to do more.
“I am deeply concerned that the Departments of Defense and Treasury are denying minority advertising firms the opportunity to work with the federal government,” said Mr. Reid.
Mr. Kerry suggested the government’s record was inadequate. “This report shines a spotlight on the federal government’s failure to make equal opportunity a reality, not just rhetoric,” he said.
Ms. Kilpatrick said the lack of compliance is making a “mockery” of the contracting process. “Despite an [Clinton era] executive order, federal agencies are not providing minority business owners — who pay taxes, provide jobs, and help strengthen our economy — with equal opportunities in the federal contracting process. Failure to promote inclusion and fairness in contracting is not only an egregious disservice to America’s families, but it is also a mockery of the promise upon which our country was founded.”
Little mention has been made of the main reason for lack of minority participation: Bundling of contracts. We were recently contacted by the Veterans Administration, which now requires VA buyers to look first to SDVOBs then VOBs for outsourcing, about a video production contract.
The guaranteed buy has a maximum of $14,252,000.00 (later purportedly revised up to $27 million) and ” the minimum amount the Government must order for each location (Salt Lake City, UT; St. Louis, MO; Washington, D.C.) is $500.00 for the entire contract, including optional ordering periods” to provide video production services. Some of the sample projects in the RFP were perfect fits for us, and other SDVOB businesses. An example from the RFP:
Purpose and Scope of Videotape Product:
Purpose: To provide Production services for a 30 minute ‘PTSD Among Women Iraq Veterans’ videos.
The video format will be interviews with VA staff and patients with an on-camera professional narrator.
Which is fully within our- and many other SDVOBs reach.
Unless there are stringent rules about subcontracting, Primes contractors will find loopholes, set up shell firms or generally ignore Federal law requiring SDVOB and minority hiring requirements.
If you are interested in working with an SDVOB with HUBzone certification we can help you meet your hiring requirements- either by being your subcontractor, or by introducing you to other SDVOB and VOB businesses through our association with VOB108.org and NAVOBA.
If you would like to share you frustrations with us, please feel free to comment below.
Back in 2005 Rupert Murdoch was interviewed in Business week, long before he purchased the Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones:
The Birth of Murdoch.com
BROAD VISION. “Our strategy is quite simple,” Murdoch said. “News Corp. at its core is about content. The Web at its core is about personal choice. What we are aiming to do is combine the two, and in the process redefine the meaning of [an] Internet vertical.”
And in buying up newspapers, which ad agencies and CMO’s are writing off as an advertising medium- Murdoch is proving he’s way ahead of everyone else: he’s buying content generators, which will give him eyeballs. He’s planning on earning attention the old fashioned way- by providing useful content.
Which brings me to advertising as practiced today. We’re no longer generating ads to ride along with content- now more than ever the ad has to be able to stand alone as its own content. Not by intruding, but by being invited as content worth watching. So fun, interesting, informative that consumers will actually want to share it, interact with it, or use it to expand their own personal equity stash.
So, before you look at your next media buy and your new ad campaign, look at it as content first, and think what you would do with it? If you would want to hang it on your wall, share it with friends, save it to solve problems, or just keep it because it’s beautiful or funny- then go ahead and run it.
If it doesn’t do any of those things, or is mostly you beating your chest, maybe it’s time to select a new ad agency.
Putting an account into review seems to be pretty popular these days. Doesn’t matter what you did for us for the last twenty, thirty or fifty years, or if we catapulted the client to the top of their category- a new CMO (and they change faster than models at a fashion show these days) has to strut their stuff and see if they can save a bit on fees or trade you in on a new model agency. The client agency relationship in America has gone the same way the institution of marriage has gone- from till death do us part, to starter marriages and a string of trophy wives.
The most recent shockers were GSD+M losing Walmart, Wieden + Kennedy losing Nike running and Fallon losing BMW. All the agencies had taken their clients to the top- and then some. With each of these divorces must come costs- yet, clients don’t seem to understand the brand equity involved in an agency relationship. It can take years to find a client voice- and only one swift move by a budding CMO to lose it.
So, with the “trading agencies” show going great guns- the new business to be in is one of matchmaker- to which we recently added Ark Advisors/AAI to the mix. Here is their uninspired bio: (with writing like this, it’s a wonder they are qualified to tell the good agencies from the bad)
About Us
Ark Advisors is a management consulting firm that focuses on a broad range of complex issues facing corporate advertisers and their marketing communications partners. We work in concert with our clients to optimize their relationships with their agencies and to maximize the effectiveness of their own marketing operations.
We have four primary areas of specialization: Agency/Resource Search, Agency Compensation, Client-Agency Relationship management, and corporate Marketing Management.
I just spent the weekend in Jacksonville Florida working with leading brand thinker, futurist and copy writing goddess Sally Hogshead. I also spent some time working with a leading Jacksonville agency on planning their web 2.0 strategy. In our discussions of the future, one of the recurring themes was what what does an ad agency of the future look like? And what services will it provide.
Then I read my feed from educational/learning futurist D’Arcy Norman, and he’s asking the same questions: only about organizations centered around higher learning. Call it synchronicity, call it karma- just don’t ignore it. Here is what was on D’Arcy’s mind about membership in professional organizations:
On the changing role of the Organization - D’Arcy Norman dot net
We talked about the issues related to membership in the organization for some time. Each time we discussed it, we came back to a single conclusion - we don’t need an organization to provide infrastructure to allow us to connect with others anymore. We are fully able to make these connections on our own, as we have been doing anyway. The informal, direct connections made between individuals are much more valuable than organizationally-fostered ones, at least in my experience.
I really don’t think we need many of these organizations any more. It would be better to allocate the resources locally, while using these great “web 2.0″ tools and social networks to build connections. Maybe an occasional conference, more akin to Northern Voice than to these giant organizational conferences, in order to provide a venue for face-to-face interaction.
In an era of decentralization and individually generated and managed content, the role of the central organization should be changing. To what? I’m not sure. But it’s no longer necessary as a broker to connect individuals and groups.
Is the idea of an agency still relevant? Can teams of freelance talent give you better advice? Do we need physical offices to engage in the process of creating content in a digital world?
I’m not sure I have the answers anymore than D’Arcy is- but I do know that digital virtual tools can create connections more efficiently than ever before. And when you get to the heart of marketing- it’s all about making connections.
