Picking an ad agency is a formidable task in the best of times. However, it’s rarely the best of times: It’s usually worse, with much riding on the outcome of your choice. It’s like choosing a specialist when you’re sick or a plumber when your pipes have burst. The following are five key things to think about during the decision-making process.
1. It’s All About The People
When all is said and done, the people and, more specifically, the team who will work on your brand is all that matters. Of course, the agency needs to convince you they have the skills, experience, and capabilities you need. They also need to demonstrate their vision and creative ability. But after you’ve done all that due diligence, the success or failure of your partnership will come down to whether it’s the right group of people.
Many agencies seem innovative, experienced, and creative, but no matter how good the agency's image appears, you are picking the team of people who will do the actual work. These are the people with whom you will work day in and day out--the people who must have the skills and experience you need, who must totally understand your business, and... Read more
Tagged 'agencies' 
Five Keys To Choosing A Great Agency
Open Letter to agencies
Dear ___________:
Our agency is getting big. That’s something to be happy about. But it’s something to worry about, too, and I don’t mind telling you I’m damned worried. I’m worried that we’re going to fall into the trap of bigness, that we’re going to worship techniques instead of substance, that we’re going to follow history instead of making it, that we’re going to be drowned by superficialities instead of buoyed up by solid fundamentals. I’m worried lest hardening of the creative arteries begin to set in.
There are a lot of great technicians in advertising. And unfortunately they talk the best game. They know all the rules. They can tell you that people in an ad will get you greater readership. They can tell you that a sentence should be this sort or that long. They can tell you that body copy should be broken up for easier reading. They can give you fact after fact after fact. They are the scientists of advertising. But there’s one little rub. Advertising is fundamentally persuasion and persuasion happens to be not a science, but an art.
It’s that creative spark that I’m so jealous of for our agency and that I am so desperately... Read more
When Was It That Professional Manners Died?
It seems like there are a lot of stories out these days -- about clients dumping agencies without warning, and agencies dumping clients for bigger clients without warning. It indicates to me that any notions of professional manners, respect, etc. have been willingly jettisoned from the ad biz. Oh, make all the jokes you want about ethics in our business. But when I started in this business 24 years ago, things like this didn't happen. Or if they did, people were shocked that anyone could do such a thing. Have we lost any shred of the concept of respectful relationships in this business? And does anyone else give a spit?
