Advertising has for long been bracketed as a service industry. Excuse me, are you saying that what we do is the same as hotels, restaurants, call centres......? No disrespect meant for these industries but I for one do not think we can be bracketed with them.
That is what I think is the core of what is wrong with us. We are in a communication business. By definition communication is a two way process. Someone says or talk to someone else. The recipient understands the communication and either reacts to it or ignores it. If the reaction is positive then it adds to the communicators bottom line and if it is negative or there is no reaction at all then the communication has obviously failed. Where is the service factor in it?
Of course all communication agencies are purveyor of service but by that definition all brands and products provide some service. So let's lay this service industry mindset to rest.
This mindset of being a service industry means the client is the king. He is always right. Because he is paying for the communication. I am sorry but client is not the king...it is the consumer who is the king. We try and mould our communication to the client's mindset. Will he buy this? Will he approve this? That's so wrong. We have to convince the client that his consumer will buy it. If we aim to produce the work which the client likes and which fails with the consumer, then anyways the client will not continue with us. So why do we want to just suck up to him and do not give him our honest viewpoint.
The clienst pay us to be their consultant, their advisors and their partners. Not to be their yes men and lackeys. They are looking for partners who understand their consumers and can suggest the best way to engage with them. So unless we are honest to the consumer we will never do our job properly. Even if it means standing upto the client and telling him that he is wrong. Don't just say it because you feel he is wrong but show him why you could be right and he could be wrong.
And that's why we must change our remuneration structure. Right communication impacts the clients bottomline in a big way, similarly wrong communication causes equal grief. We must insist that our remuneration is based on results. Pay us a basic fees which covers our costs but if we want to make money then our work must work. It must show results.
Once we know that making money is dependent on the success of our work then we will not be working as in service industry. We will not be client's yes men. We will voice our viewpoint. We will fight in what we believe. We will ultimately do work which will show results. And we will be proud communication people.
Another advantage with this way of working is that campaign goals will be well defined with result parameters also discussed before hand. This in turn helps the client to articulate a better brief, the most common bane of all agencies.
I think most client's will love it too. They will have an agency which is appointed or retained with a performance based criteria. They will not always have to look at ways to cut fees or look out every year for a new agency which will charge less.
And if there are clients who will not agree to this then an agency better be wary. Because it could mean that the client is not looking for an able partner but a yes man. It would mean that the client considers himself as the king and the agency its vassal. Better not to be involved with such clients.
The problem is mostly with the agency. I think many, if not most of us are not confident of our work. We hesitate to take up the challenge of being result oriented. We fear that we may be not successful. So we want to play safe. Give us a decent fees upfront. Everything else can be a bonus. We are happy to earn averagely and then we blame the client for paying us poorly.
The interesting part is that there always have been clients who want an independent agency and not "his master's voice". When I joined this industry in the mid eighties, I had one such client, Kitply. We launched the brand and in fact created a new category. From day one the client was very clear."I will accept all your recommendations because you are the experts in this field. You understand the consumer and tell me what to do. But if your recommendations fail then you are out." And he was true to his word. He never interfered with creative, in fact he vetoed even his family's suggestions if we did not agree to the same. And we continued with him for a decent period of time.
In today's day and age where technology and new medium makes it easy to track the success or failure of a campaign it is surprising that most agencies are working on an outdated model. And continue to regard themselves as a service industry, servicing the client, treating him like a king. Pity!
That is what I think is the core of what is wrong with us. We are in a communication business. By definition communication is a two way process. Someone says or talk to someone else. The recipient understands the communication and either reacts to it or ignores it. If the reaction is positive then it adds to the communicators bottom line and if it is negative or there is no reaction at all then the communication has obviously failed. Where is the service factor in it?
Of course all communication agencies are purveyor of service but by that definition all brands and products provide some service. So let's lay this service industry mindset to rest.
This mindset of being a service industry means the client is the king. He is always right. Because he is paying for the communication. I am sorry but client is not the king...it is the consumer who is the king. We try and mould our communication to the client's mindset. Will he buy this? Will he approve this? That's so wrong. We have to convince the client that his consumer will buy it. If we aim to produce the work which the client likes and which fails with the consumer, then anyways the client will not continue with us. So why do we want to just suck up to him and do not give him our honest viewpoint.
The clienst pay us to be their consultant, their advisors and their partners. Not to be their yes men and lackeys. They are looking for partners who understand their consumers and can suggest the best way to engage with them. So unless we are honest to the consumer we will never do our job properly. Even if it means standing upto the client and telling him that he is wrong. Don't just say it because you feel he is wrong but show him why you could be right and he could be wrong.
And that's why we must change our remuneration structure. Right communication impacts the clients bottomline in a big way, similarly wrong communication causes equal grief. We must insist that our remuneration is based on results. Pay us a basic fees which covers our costs but if we want to make money then our work must work. It must show results.
Once we know that making money is dependent on the success of our work then we will not be working as in service industry. We will not be client's yes men. We will voice our viewpoint. We will fight in what we believe. We will ultimately do work which will show results. And we will be proud communication people.
Another advantage with this way of working is that campaign goals will be well defined with result parameters also discussed before hand. This in turn helps the client to articulate a better brief, the most common bane of all agencies.
I think most client's will love it too. They will have an agency which is appointed or retained with a performance based criteria. They will not always have to look at ways to cut fees or look out every year for a new agency which will charge less.
And if there are clients who will not agree to this then an agency better be wary. Because it could mean that the client is not looking for an able partner but a yes man. It would mean that the client considers himself as the king and the agency its vassal. Better not to be involved with such clients.
The problem is mostly with the agency. I think many, if not most of us are not confident of our work. We hesitate to take up the challenge of being result oriented. We fear that we may be not successful. So we want to play safe. Give us a decent fees upfront. Everything else can be a bonus. We are happy to earn averagely and then we blame the client for paying us poorly.
The interesting part is that there always have been clients who want an independent agency and not "his master's voice". When I joined this industry in the mid eighties, I had one such client, Kitply. We launched the brand and in fact created a new category. From day one the client was very clear."I will accept all your recommendations because you are the experts in this field. You understand the consumer and tell me what to do. But if your recommendations fail then you are out." And he was true to his word. He never interfered with creative, in fact he vetoed even his family's suggestions if we did not agree to the same. And we continued with him for a decent period of time.
In today's day and age where technology and new medium makes it easy to track the success or failure of a campaign it is surprising that most agencies are working on an outdated model. And continue to regard themselves as a service industry, servicing the client, treating him like a king. Pity!
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