In today’s dynamic world one
thing which has become critical is sustainable
relationships–on both personal and professional fronts. When it comes to advertising,
making sustainable relationships with the clients becomes more important –more important
than winning an account.
Ours is an industry which
constantly witnesses winning a client, the highs and lows of the relationship and
subjective judgements thus making the scenario emotionally charged. As the industry
faces challenges like a decline in the spends, weaker loyalty and shallow understanding,
most of the agencies get the blame of failed
to meet the expectations.
Most of us have read about the
days when the client-agency relationship was
seen as a bond, a partnership, a mutual responsibility –a covenant as such to increases
the brand awareness, craft a communication to take the brand to the next level
thus both parties playing an equally important role in nurturing the brand. Now
it is just about the ROI.
Though there is an abundance of
agencies offering a nimiety of services under the same umbrella, the changing market
dynamics make it difficult to converge these services towards attaining
sustainable associations. Agencies complain about:
·
Too
many contact points at client’s end thus making the decision making process
tedious
·
Ever
–increasing pressure of ‘quick turn-around time’
·
Infringement
of creative space
·
No
time for conceptualization
·
Demand
to rope in more resources in the same fees
On the other hand client is discontented
about the mediocre creative solutions provided
by their communication partners thus holding them responsible for the decrease
in ROI.
Though I haven’t seen the broader
picture of the industry, the one thing I m quite sure about is that many a
times both the parties viz. the agency and the client become myopic thus
failing to create effective ways sustain the relationship. Still, I can think
of the following points which may help in building long lasting client-agency relationships:
·
Fair
remuneration system for the agency
·
Defining
accountability for performance & results
·
Transparency
in information sharing
·
Clear-cut
definition of expectations from client
·
Identifying
intimidations to the agency if any
·
Well-written
creative briefs for the agency
·
Minimizing
the levels in approval process
·
Treating
each others as partners
·
Fair
assessments and review process
Also, Advertising is essentially
about people. Peep into the world and you will see things as intangible or as abstract
as brand, ideas, concepts, identities and what not. In this abstractness what
instills life?? You guessed it right-The PEOPLE. It is very important to invest
in people, to trust them, to guide them, train them- thus making them ready and
fully equipped to take the world in their stride.
Well I can see the smirk on
your face..Too idealistic haan?? Agreed..These points are too idealistic and bookish.
But don’t you think its high time to sit, think and retrospect so that we are
able to revitalize the client-agency relationship, making the collaboration effective
and rewarding.
