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DETAIL EXPLAINATION OF SATGES IN A CLIENT – AGENCY RELATIONSHIP
Pre-relationship stage –
In the first phase of a client-agency lifecycle a client is seeking for an agency that helps promoting or advertising an activity. An agency needs to have great presentation skills to convince new clients and guarantee a success with pitching and the agency should also have a networking and new business specialist who is agile to build up a strong relationship with the top executives of potential clients. Both clients and agencies value certain key attributes like positive recommendation or agencies creativity. It is certainly the case that a client pays great attention to the people factors concerning a prospective relationship with a new agency. That again means that advertising is a service that highly depends on the key contact person and the team that provides the service. Wackman et al. (1987) stated that clients do not always thoroughly selected agencies by its competences but by mirroring its personality.
According to Jonathan M. Lace (1998) there are task competencies in each functional role of an employee of an advertising agency, which influence the client’s perception. Sometimes first impressions cannot be changed and therefore advertising agencies should pay attention to its presentation of their functional roles. Even though most competencies will be realized and evaluated during the relationship development and maintenance phase first feelings of the clients are essential for an agency’s selection.
Development stage-
Once the client has selected an agency or continues working with its current one it is important that both parties successfully develop and maintain the relationship. On the one hand there are the factors that make a relationship productive or unproductive. On the other hand there is the role of agency reviews and audits that maintain a client-agency satisfaction. There is no single factor that influences the work activity but there are always many factors. It is often the case that if dissatisfaction evolves that tangentially the other partner is blamed.
Statistics state that agencies are usually more critical of their clients than on themselves. In general trouble in a client-agency relationship has little to do with the capabilities of an advertising agency but with the lack of maintaining a performance system. There are several factors which are identified if a client is appraising an advertising agency: the method of evaluation needs to be simple, the environment needs to be calm and objective, appraise regularly and make the agency a partner in the appraisal effort (David S. Waller, 2004). It is important to keep the communication flow going and have regular contact between the agency and its client. There arise a lot of problems due to a lack of communication. The more experience both parties have with playing the game of client-agency relationships the better the outcome. However agencies are usually in a poor situation concerning the money and job security factor.
Maintenance stage-
Another important factor of the maintenance phase is the performance issue. If a client does not define the agency’s competencies and tasks it is difficult for an agency to satisfy the client. Apart from the general performance issue, the problem of bad briefing is present at all agencies. If a client does not brief an agency correctly on new activities it is most likely that the agency will fail its task. Sometimes it is the case that the agency and its client have different attitudes. Analysing these differences can be used to define and eventually solve the conflict. In the end the development and maintenance phase is successful for both the agency and the client if communication is kept running and expectations are defined in the beginning.
Termination stage-
The final stage of a client-agency lifecycle is a review of the agency’s performance which either results in a contract renewal or in a termination. A termination of the client-agency relationship is when the client is dissatisfied with the agency and that again leads to an end of the cooperation.
The agency has two options now. Either is gives the agency a new try and invite tenders for pitch where the existing agency can proof its capabilities in a competitive presentation. Or the client directly changes the agency and does not allow the existing agency to participate in a new pitch.
The trend in client-agency relationships is to terminate those that under-perform. In 1984, the average client-agency relationship tenure was 7.2 years. By 2010 that number declined to 4 years. Clients continue to cite the same reasons for terminating their relationship with their agency. Most of the time, these issues might have been resolved if they were acknowledged and addressed earlier.
• Turnover – New marketing director
• Lack of interest/understanding of client’s business
• Strategy and creative linkage unhinged
• “Outgrown” the agency
• Understaffing and inexperienced personnel
• Changes at the top
• Research scores consistently below norms
• Creative intransigence and arrogance
• Mandated consolidation
• Loose attention to budgets
•
Avoiding the Pitfall of Failed Relationships
• Successful relationships do not sustain themselves. Many client-agency relationships fail to meet expectations because too little attention is given to nurturing the close working relationships and interpersonal connections that unite them.
• All parties involved must remain pro-active in monitoring and evaluating the level of trust, confidence, understanding, and success felt by every other member of the group. Disconnects can strain the relationship until it collapses. Only constant, open
communication can solidify the client and agency’s expectations and perspectives regarding the other.
Pre-relationship stage –
In the first phase of a client-agency lifecycle a client is seeking for an agency that helps promoting or advertising an activity. An agency needs to have great presentation skills to convince new clients and guarantee a success with pitching and the agency should also have a networking and new business specialist who is agile to build up a strong relationship with the top executives of potential clients. Both clients and agencies value certain key attributes like positive recommendation or agencies creativity. It is certainly the case that a client pays great attention to the people factors concerning a prospective relationship with a new agency. That again means that advertising is a service that highly depends on the key contact person and the team that provides the service. Wackman et al. (1987) stated that clients do not always thoroughly selected agencies by its competences but by mirroring its personality.
According to Jonathan M. Lace (1998) there are task competencies in each functional role of an employee of an advertising agency, which influence the client’s perception. Sometimes first impressions cannot be changed and therefore advertising agencies should pay attention to its presentation of their functional roles. Even though most competencies will be realized and evaluated during the relationship development and maintenance phase first feelings of the clients are essential for an agency’s selection.
Development stage-
Once the client has selected an agency or continues working with its current one it is important that both parties successfully develop and maintain the relationship. On the one hand there are the factors that make a relationship productive or unproductive. On the other hand there is the role of agency reviews and audits that maintain a client-agency satisfaction. There is no single factor that influences the work activity but there are always many factors. It is often the case that if dissatisfaction evolves that tangentially the other partner is blamed.
Statistics state that agencies are usually more critical of their clients than on themselves. In general trouble in a client-agency relationship has little to do with the capabilities of an advertising agency but with the lack of maintaining a performance system. There are several factors which are identified if a client is appraising an advertising agency: the method of evaluation needs to be simple, the environment needs to be calm and objective, appraise regularly and make the agency a partner in the appraisal effort (David S. Waller, 2004). It is important to keep the communication flow going and have regular contact between the agency and its client. There arise a lot of problems due to a lack of communication. The more experience both parties have with playing the game of client-agency relationships the better the outcome. However agencies are usually in a poor situation concerning the money and job security factor.
Maintenance stage-
Another important factor of the maintenance phase is the performance issue. If a client does not define the agency’s competencies and tasks it is difficult for an agency to satisfy the client. Apart from the general performance issue, the problem of bad briefing is present at all agencies. If a client does not brief an agency correctly on new activities it is most likely that the agency will fail its task. Sometimes it is the case that the agency and its client have different attitudes. Analysing these differences can be used to define and eventually solve the conflict. In the end the development and maintenance phase is successful for both the agency and the client if communication is kept running and expectations are defined in the beginning.
Termination stage-
The final stage of a client-agency lifecycle is a review of the agency’s performance which either results in a contract renewal or in a termination. A termination of the client-agency relationship is when the client is dissatisfied with the agency and that again leads to an end of the cooperation.
The agency has two options now. Either is gives the agency a new try and invite tenders for pitch where the existing agency can proof its capabilities in a competitive presentation. Or the client directly changes the agency and does not allow the existing agency to participate in a new pitch.
The trend in client-agency relationships is to terminate those that under-perform. In 1984, the average client-agency relationship tenure was 7.2 years. By 2010 that number declined to 4 years. Clients continue to cite the same reasons for terminating their relationship with their agency. Most of the time, these issues might have been resolved if they were acknowledged and addressed earlier.
• Turnover – New marketing director
• Lack of interest/understanding of client’s business
• Strategy and creative linkage unhinged
• “Outgrown” the agency
• Understaffing and inexperienced personnel
• Changes at the top
• Research scores consistently below norms
• Creative intransigence and arrogance
• Mandated consolidation
• Loose attention to budgets
•
Avoiding the Pitfall of Failed Relationships
• Successful relationships do not sustain themselves. Many client-agency relationships fail to meet expectations because too little attention is given to nurturing the close working relationships and interpersonal connections that unite them.
• All parties involved must remain pro-active in monitoring and evaluating the level of trust, confidence, understanding, and success felt by every other member of the group. Disconnects can strain the relationship until it collapses. Only constant, open
communication can solidify the client and agency’s expectations and perspectives regarding the other.