What are Agencies For?

amp8220Media independentsamp8221 as they were known came into existence in the first place because the fullservice agencies didnamp8217t pay enough attention to the media functionamp160 To begin with the debate was all about saving money lower overheads combined with a reduction in creative agency commission greater than the amount paid to the media agency meant lower feesamp160 A focus on doing one thing well led to lower media costsamp160 Lower media costs plus lower service fees equals a good deal for advertisersAt the time there was a discussion around whether media planning should stay with the creative agency leaving the new media independents to focus on buying amp160The question was whether splitting planning from creative was worse than splitting planning from buyingMost clients went for the pragmatic over the conceptual amp160Most fullservice agencies got rid of their media people amp160And so the prehistoric version of the modern media agency was bornThe buying benefit was easy to explain amp160We save you money was the gist of it Quantifying the planning benefit was harder so for years agencies charged on the basis of their buys and in effect delivered planning for freeHave we moved onWhen the Cog Blog started in 2013 one of the first comments was from an agency CEO saying that clients wouldnamp8217t pay for planning amp160After nearly 40 years agencies still hadnamp8217t managed to find a way to charge for planningItamp8217s a little like the market research agencies making their money on doing fieldwork not on interpreting the results amp160It was easier to sell on the basis of somuch per interview than to charge for thinking amp160Once fieldwork costs fell as online came along that model made no sense at allMedia agencies are full of smart planners smart researchers and smart strategists amp160These guys havenamp8217t just arrived and yet historically the business model was not based on their skills but on buyingBut buying is no longer the key pillar in the model amp160FB et al deal direct with clients amp160Clients are setting up inhouse units amp160Last week UK broadcasters said that they were collaborating in selling their medium to advertisers directAgenciesamp8217 buying clout and their oldfashioned threats of withholding favors from those daring to go direct doesnamp8217t work with the likes of Facebook and itamp8217s hard to talk of clout given the transparency debateThe best agencies contain curious creative restless people amp160People who can find leftfield original solutions to problems whether those solutions exist within a media or a creative or indeed a PR experiential or sponsorship contextThe best are great as theyamp8217ve always been at collaborating with all kinds of experts from data scientists to researchers from media vendors to production companies to find and then execute brilliant ideasThey can weigh up any number of options and choose combinations of tactics to meet a strategic needClients need these skills more than ever amp160Agencies can convince them rightThereamp8217s a Twitter account called My Idiot Client where frustrated agencies can share what they consider to be idiotic remarks made by their clientsThis much commentedupon lack of trust is in large part a problem of the agenciesamp8217 own making caused by a mistaken and lazy belief that clients only want cheap rubbish a lack of interest outside of conference speeches in spending behind what works and a focus on dealsYes theyamp8217ve been helped by many bad players and yes clients havenamp8217t historically gotten as close to these issues as they are now but agencies have always existed to lead client thinking to advise to guideIf agencies donamp8217t start selling their expertise as business problem solvers and get their buyers to buy whatamp8217s planned they wonamp8217t have a future amp160Agencies have to be an upstream partner not a downstream supplierThe good news is that the penny is dropping amp160But if it doesnamp8217t drop fast enough and agencies are bypassed by others including their clients one might reasonably ask amp160Whoamp8217s the idiotClick the social buttons above or below to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writersamp160

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What are Agencies For?

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Brian Jacobs

"About That" with Carl Mayer: Corinne Casagrande (Episode 8: Consumer Spending) - By Carl Mayer

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"About That" with Carl Mayer: Corinne Casagrande (Episode 8: Consumer Spending) - By Carl Mayer

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