Advertising ...the art of Client Agency Relationships... (part 2)

Dynamics of client – agency relation ships

The reasons for turmoil in client agency relation can be as vivid as the stars are but they all stem from the type of relation that they enjoy or suffer from .....

Relations where clients are the kids and agencies mantle the role of parents(parent child relation) work in evolving markets or when the client is new or naive as far as the market is concerned or when the client is new in business. In evolved CARs the parent- child type of CAR graduates naturally into an equal type of relation. Anyway the MTV generation Kid is smarter that his parent and wise agencies recognize this and are more than glad to be equal partners in progress(remember the quote...Parents often talk about the younger generations as if they didn't have anything to do with it).....
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A P&G and Leo Burnett and a Hutch and O&M are often quoted as the best happening examples of an equal relation. As per media reports, there is no marketing meeting or decision in Hutch, taken without the O & M participation in it. And the result is obvious. The Hutch user base went up by 70% after the dog and the boy campaign broke.

But everywhere and with everyone it is not that rosy. Many clients, who mature take a prominent position and start dominating relationship. Some dictate terms, some even predefine ad creative, and worse, some start thinking, their ad agency as a DTP center. The agency, in this unequal relation, as the suffering partner either remain a silent spectator with forever an‘ Yes minister’ affirmation or leave in disgust. Levers, for example is the biggest marketing juggernaut, and they cannot be given lectures on how marketing should be done, but it is also recorded in history that they, to their credit have the highest number of marketing blunders, thanks mainly to the formula advertising that many HLL brands religiously seem to be following(think the latest Lux ads where they send to air millions of rupees along with the baloons).....
Such relations can be a nightmare for any agency but these days, cash strapped, client-starved agencies take up, tolerate and retain even such clients. Such non-committal, short-term relations usually end up with cabals, castigation and cacophony. No sooner than such “deliver and out” relations have started the honeymoon ends, abruptly. Smarter clients (read, clients with no strategic thinking) love such short-term affairs but agencies rarely like to be in such a predicament (Let us not term it, a ‘relation’). Some believe that D & O stands for Devil and the Ocean. Worst of all, D & O also symbolize Dog and the Owner, for some....one night stance as a common man would call it...

.... now on a lighter side.....

Things Mom Would Never Say


"How on earth can you see the TV sitting so far back?"

"Yeah, I used to skip school a lot, too"

"Just leave all the lights on ... it makes the house look more cheery"

"Let me smell that shirt -- Yeah, it's good for another week"

"Go ahead and keep that stray dog, honey. I'll be glad to feed and walk him every day"

"Well, if Timmy's mom says it's OK, that's good enough for me."

"The curfew is just a general time to shoot for. It's not like I'm running a prison around here."

"I don't have a tissue with me ... just use your sleeve"

"Don't bother wearing a jacket - the wind-chill is bound to improve"
To be continued>>>>>>