Stating case for longer client-agency relations

In a market that’s getting more diverse, it should be smarter for clients to stick to the advertising agency that knows them better than anyone else. But what is the real score?

Some people say familiarity breeds contempt... well, not necessarily so in the advertising industry. Where the better you know your clients, the better it is to pinpoint what they really need, ergo, the better service you can provide for them.

Is it still true these days? Will clients still stick to the ad agency they’ve been with for years, even if they’re slipping off their niche in a fickle market?

Weiden+Kennedy, No. 2 in Forbes’ List of 10 Great Ad Agencies of 2012, is proof positive that a long-term partnership with their clients has resulted, not only in their staying on top for the past 30 years, but also in the consistently amazing work they have been doing for Coca-Cola, Nike and P&G (Old Spice).

Shelly Lazarus, WPP’s Ogilvy chairman, believes for a client-agency relationship to last, it must be nurtured, like a good marriage, requiring “trust, very open dialogue and a presumption that this relationship will continue to get stronger.”

Lazarus, in the heyday of advertising in the 1990s, convinced her client IBM that it didn’t need to maintain so many relationships with different ad agencies wherever they had offices around the globe, because no other ad agency can be as devoted to IBM as her’s.

This period in the industry’s history was clearly a time when the client-agency relationship was considered “sacred”. Does it suddenly feel like that seems to be fading fast?

Recent movements of clients from their long-time ad agency partners seem to add some truth to this observation. In the US, Harley Davidson zoomed away from Carmichael Lynch after 31 years. The motorcycle icon insisted that the ad agency started the split, while the agency firmly believed that there were differences of opinion involving creatives.

Metlife severed its ties, after 83 years, with Y&R, who also said good-bye to Dr. Pepper Snapple Group after 40 years. After working with McCann for almost 100 years, Exxon Mobil requested a review.

These days, the idea of a client staying with one ad agency for 50-plus years simply boggles the mind. Realistically, most clients would be happy if they can sustain a mutually beneficial relationship with an ad agency for five to 10 years, since there are many factors involved that could end the relationship abruptly.

Boredom is one of them. Seeing the same thing over and over again can make a client look in another direction.

Unfortunately, the industry is experiencing what seems to be a serious case of campaign cloning, perhaps due to the fact that agency talents are on the move, and bringing their overused ideas from one agency to another.

Another factor also involves movement, but on the client side. More often now than before, a marketing director would spend an average of three years in one company, and when landing a new job in another company, would make choosing a new ad agency his first priority.

It’s a vicious cycle that benefits no one, least of all, the brand. New blood can enhance the life of a brand, only as long as the infusions are needed, and not just because the new manager is trying to prove that his ideas are better than his predecessor.

To stem the fragmentation of once long-term client-agency relationships, the latter must be open to makeovers at the drop of a client’s hat. It must keep pace with the latest technologies, set higher creative standards to be able to deliver fresher ideas, and put in the time needed to maintain a healthy relationship with its clients by doing everything possible to get to know them and their brands better.

All enduring campaigns have been created in an atmosphere borne out of long-term relationships, where the agency had an in-depth knowledge of the brand, and was encouraged by the client’s transparency, with both aiming to foster a sincere respect for each other’s abilities.

— The writer is the CEO at Venture Communications.