Our Blog

Back in 2000-01, I was working agency-side and just about every new brief was for a website pitch. At the time, we’d go into the client’s offices (or invite them into ours) and discuss our methodology for developing a great website, gather their brief, show them relevant examples of our work for others and provide a proposal and estimate thereafter. As ours was a small boutique creative agency and the average site build was less than $30,000, this was most often adequate to win the website pitch.

Now, in 2012, things have changed–obviously. As surfers today, our online behaviour patterns are ingrained and we now have access to much more sophisticated analytical tools to assess user’s actions. So then, why do so many small, boutique digital and integrated agencies still pitch in much the same way?

Imagine…you’re one of 4 children. You’re constantly on edge because your mom or dad continually compare and contrast what you do over and above your siblings (and vice versa). Their expressed love, approval and financial support depends wholly on how you’re perceived within the family. Would you ‘play fair’ as a child in this household, or seek every opportunity to self-promote and also detract attention and accolades from your siblings? Human nature would say that the later would be true.

This is also true of clients wishing to retain multiple agencies. For marketing agencies to ‘play fair’ toward a collectively shared integrated campaign goal and step away from selfish posturing, clients must first foster an environment which promotes it. Rules must be set upfront and client-side marketers must be unified and consistent in disciplining and rewarding agencies toward enforcing the rules. Insecurity and perceived untapped opportunity motivate marketing and communications firms to posture for a larger slice of a client’s budget.

According to some counts of late, there are over 16,000 marketing and communications agencies in the UK. And as someone who spends most of every business day speaking with, reading about and selecting agencies to be put forward for client briefs, I’m continually disappointed by how many marketing agencies neglect marketing themselves.

I find myself in conversations with clients daily to the tune of ‘Believe me, they’re a good marketing firm with talented people onboard…they just aren’t great at marketing themselves.’ How sad.