by Eric Frank. I worked for a great agency in Cape Town a couple of years ago. Like most, it started out small and immediately demonstrated it was hungry and obsessed with doing the kind of work that gets people talking. It paid off! In almost no time at all, it was among the top three agencies in the country.
One of the great things about it was its spirit. Creative, account handlers, secretaries, support staff and even dispatch riders loved working there because it was the one place in town where no compromise on creative quality or anything they did was tolerated. Suffice to say, many of South Africa’s greatest advertising people cut their teeth there.
Most-coveted retail account
A year or two before I started working at the agency, it won what is probably the most-coveted retail account in South Africa. Part of its appointment deal was to retain the services of the creative director from the previous agency and build a creative team around him. Suitable account servicing people were hired and the area of the agency was nearly doubled to accommodate the new retail team.
Looking back, I’m sure the founders of the agency will agree that the acquisition of the retail account sparked an unstoppable shift in the culture the agency. It changed from being a team of like-minded creative zealots into a typical large advertising agency. While it tried hard to maintain its hunger and the team spirit, it is almost impossible to do so when you divide an agency into business units that have to fend for themselves. Despite this, its work for the retail client was far superior to anything else in the category. It was clean, stylish, beautifully produced and refreshingly innovative. It raised the bar for its competitors to measure up to and they never even came close.
Things could not have been better until the day, five years later, when the client announced it was moving the account in-house and terminated the relationship without a prior murmur of dissatisfaction or warning.
Planned for months
There can be little doubt that the client had planned the move for many months, and had almost everything in place by the time it informed the agency. When it became known that the majority of the brand team would be retrenched, the client employed the creative director, selected members of the creative team and some support staff, as well as one or two of the account management personnel.
Was this a despicable act on behalf of the client? Hell, yes, if you’re agency—it’s a frickin’ disgrace. But put yourself in the client’s position. Except for its grossly unethical behaviour, it did the right thing for its business.
- It saved money
- It kept the creative team that gave it its best work intact and working upon its business
- It integrated the creative team into the culture and processes of the organisation, as well as giving the team members a better understanding of what the business needed to achieve from its communications
- It seamlessly moved from being agency-dependent to agency-independent
- And then it went on to do some truly spectacular work which its erstwhile agency would have been proud to have done
As for the agency, it’s back to the perfect size for its culture. It’s got all its mojo back and is as feisty as ever. And it’s back to its winning ways. While its pockets are not as deep as before, employees probably enjoy going to work more and, according to all reports, are having a lot more fun.
Should clients with specialist demands employ an advertising agency?
Retail client-agency relationships are frequently a little more hate than love. The agency’s focus is invariably upon building long-term relationships between the client and its customers, and enhancing the agency’s creative reputation through the work it does. The client, almost without exception, is engaged daily in a bloody war with its competitors. It absolutely has to continuously drive more customers through its stores than its competitors’. Somewhere between what the agency wants and what the client wants is the road to success. But it’s almost impossible to get there if the understanding between client and agency is not crystal clear. Different agendas inevitably lead to anger and frustration and, when the agency is presenting its fifth attempt to crack a brief on a job required a month ago, both parties are quietly, but intensely considering the option of divorce.
However, divorce is a complex and difficult road to travel because immersing a new agency into the complexities of a retail client’s business is not easy. The campaign that the agency presented to win the business is not necessarily the one that is best for the business so it will need to start from scratch. All in all, the suckling period of an agency on a new piece of business may take long as that of a newborn baby and its mum and, during that time, efficient productivity on the business is under par.
Here are a few examples of the kind of clients who may want to consider going in-house.
- Commercial banks: are (wisely) risk averse in business and (unwisely) timid when it comes to positioning themselves competitively against their competitors. A colleague of mine asked me when was the last time I’d seen a great corporate ad for a bank and I couldn’t answer him. Direct and digital communications that offer direct-response messages through the appropriate media channels are proving to be much more effective in engaging potential clients than the award-winning blockbuster bank ads of the past. These direct and digital communications skills are relatively easy to bring in-house, where all activities may be turned around quickly, coordinated, measured and then adapted when necessary. Let’s face it: many banks with uninspiring advertising messages are pulling new customers because, when times are tough, a better deal is way better than a cool creative ad.
- Mobile service providers (telcos) have evolved into aggressive retail players, where price offerings, new products, promotions and more drive almost everything they do. The pace at which their products and product combinations change is dizzying, and the level of understanding required to grasp the intricacies of their business and bundle structures is mindboggling. A telco could gain a massive competitor advantage if it cherry-picked the hottest strategic planning and creative people in the category and built a creative unit within the organisation. Along with all the other advantages, its speed to market would most likely double, and time-consuming miscommunication, misunderstandings and briefing issues halved.
Other businesses that have already gone in-house include:
- Cosmetics and retail fashion
- Electronics and appliances
- Specialised products and manufacturing and more…
Why are agencies failing their clients?
- They are too slow to compete in the digital domain
- Despite what they say to the contrary, big agencies are still hooked on making ads
- Continuity and building lasting consumer relationships have become more important than creating advertising campaigns
- Clients want to own the customer relationship and all the data that comes with it
- Speculation has it that agencies are not able to compete with digital specialists because they’re not able to attract the best talent. When one considers the options open to a highly skilled digital expert, then joining an advertising agency may not be as attractive as starting their own business or building a reputation in a specialist digital agency
What next?
I imagine the pressure upon global networks will continue to build and, ultimately, only the best will survive. Clients will continue looking for partners who are more streamlined and quicker to market. For clients, building and managing relationships with their customers is crucial and being in a position to managing those relationships themselves will become non-negotiable. Creative talent is already realising that their universe is not limited to working in agencies that are part of cumbersome global networks.
More and more, specialist innovation, design, digital and strategic creative agencies are springing up. Collaboration and project partnerships are becoming more common. Relationships between clients and their creative partners are becoming stronger, and clients with in-house agencies will become more popular.
The marketing and innovation universe is increasingly becoming the playground of creative entrepreneurs.
Republished with permission.
Eric Frank a creative director, strategist and ideas coach. He’s previously worked for Asilia Africa, Saatchi & Saatchi Sri Lanka and The Jupiter Drawing Room in both Cape Town and Johannesburg (where he was the creative director for MTN’s Africa and Middle-Eastern markets), plus he headed up the Saatchi & Saatchi Africa Network.
“Motive” is a by-invitation-only column on MarkLives.com. Contributors are picked by the editors but generally don’t form part of our regular columnist lineup, unless the topic is off-column.
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