Building Brands -- The Client’s Responsibility

On September 16th, the ANA held its annual Agency Relations Forum – an industry gathering to assess the state of the client / agency relationship. Upon reflecting on what I heard, here are the key “takeaways” I gained:

The buck stops with the client.

There should be no equivocation that the client is responsible for all brand and media management decisions. Now this may seem obvious, but how often do we see weak advertising and marketing programs hitting the airwaves, websites and print media. Often, the finger of responsibility gets pointed at the agency. Is it the agency’s fault that bad marketing is being witnessed by millions? Of course not. If a marketer doesn’t like the output of agencies, then it is the client’s responsibility to not show it. Importantly, it is the client’s responsibility to work with the agency to get it right so that it meets their brand marketing objectives. Often we hear about long-term agency partners under review or agencies dismissed after brief tenures. I suspect that some of those may be related to bad agency management decisions by the client.

Is the Client properly focused?

The number one objective for both the client and the agency is getting the right marketing and media campaigns that effectively build brands. If that doesn’t happen, then all of the other effort around process, transparency, agency compensation, the role of the procurement departments, margin management and personality management doesn’t matter at all. Sure, those are all important. We certainly need to make lots of progress in those arenas. But let’s be sure that we don’t shift our focus so much that our eye comes off the “brand-building ball”. Often, I suspect it does. And often, I think it creates dysfunctional behavior for both the client and the agency that results in sub-optimal brand-building.

Despite these concerns, we are learning. And, we are obviously making some tangible progress. Overall, the client/agency relationship is in reasonably good shape. In the latest ANA survey, released at the event, 93% of members say that agencies are meeting or exceeding expectations. That says there is a substantial undercurrent of satisfaction – and that’s a very good sign. We just need to make sure that this progress becomes institutionalized – and that, we clients, keep making better decisions to best leverage our valued agency friends and partners.

Comments

[Steve Harold]

There is a joint responsibility for keeping abreast of trends but also for the agency to be ahead of the game (a major reason why agency's are employed). Of course when a marketing campaign falls flat the agency may pay the ultimate price for that if the client had followed the agency's marketing advice. So the buck might stop with the client but the agency has to take responsibility too.

[Valerie Stilwell]

Interesting comments. You said , “The buck stops with the client.”

Yes it does. However, one often, overlooked aspect of this comment is that agencies are specialists; they’re supposed to know market trends and act accordingly. They certainly sell themselves to clients as such.

The following NY Times article speaks volumes on agency irresponsibility for keeping up with market trends and demographic shifts: http://www.agewave.com/media_files/AARP.html.

Maureen Barry of GSD& M said they were targeting the media buyers with their campaigns (instead of the consumers), because the buyers were “young and jaded”. You’re right, the client should be saying, Maureen, in words ala Trump, “You’re fired!”

You said, “If a marketer doesn’t like the output of agencies, then it is the client’s responsibility to not show it.” At what point does this happen? How close to deadline is this decision made?

You ask, “Is the Client properly focused?” I ask, “Is the agency properly focused?” Again I quote from NY Times, “While acknowledging the aging of the country and the rising wealth of older Americans, some (agencies) said their priorities were driven simply by the elusiveness of young people.” …who have less money and attention to spend.

While headway is being made in client /agency relationships, agencies are slow to hold themselves accountable for knowing audience trends and acting accordingly.

I don’t mean to sound pessimistic, but I’ve been watching this develop for some time and question who's going to buckle first- the clients or the agencies. Y’all need to work together a little better.