Thursday, July 12, 2007

When to fire your Ad Agency.

I just came across this article in BusinessWeek written by Steve McKee the president of a semi-eponymous agency, McKee Wallwork Cleveland, in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

From the way it starts, you can tell it's worth reading.
"As a client, you're paying your agency to push you to keep your brand relevant in a shifting competitive landscape, not to simply take orders"

http://www.businessweek.com/@@qEhZxGUQ4PHMRxEA/smallbiz/content/jul2007/sb2007079_829964.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index_small+business


2 comments:

Unknown said...

I have an unapologetic "blame the account-service guys first" predisposition. One that has only hardened after 8 years (sob!) in a more account-driven shop.
It's that aversion to difficult conversations. Avoidance of conflict. Fear of a good, constructive screaming fight over a lousy budget. What if all that fear went away? What would the work be like? How could it not be better?
Watching Washington with disgust this week, I see a horrific corollary. And I understand that whether you're a corporation or a nation, if you're run by guys who only worry about being liked and approved of and elected all the time, you're just fucked.

george tannenbaum said...

Hi, Peter.
I divide the agency world into two.
There are "no, we can't agencies," and "yeah, why not" agencies. If you're at a no, you have to get out.

Another way of dividing is agencies that think of themselves as a providing a service to the client vs. agencies who believe their work is a product. Get thee to a product agency. What agencies do is MAKE things. Our product is ingenuity, imagination etc.