-
Tags
Advertising agency agency compensation agency remuneration agency review agency roster agency search agency selection agency solutions alignment benchmarking business strategy alignment Collaboration Compensation Darren Woolley Digital Digital Marketing Evalu8ing Marketing marketing and advertising marketing first forum marketing process optimisation marketing procurement Marketing strategy media media agency media buying media planning pitch pitch process process optimisation Procurement production production costs remuneration scope of work Shawn Callahan social media stephan argent strategic alignment strategic management strategic marketing consulting strategic marketing management Television production TrinityP3Categories
- agency remuneration / compensation
- agency search & selection
- agency solutions
- case studies
- customer relationship management
- data & direct marketing
- Evalu8ing – Relationship Performance Monitoring
- green marketing & sustainability
- industry news & trends
- interesting observations
- iPhone business app
- marketing process optimisation
- marketing procurement
- media planning & buying
- mobile marketing
- Podcasts
- print production
- public sector
- resource rate calculator
- return on investment
- social media & digital marketing
- strategic management
- television & electronic production
- Top 10
- Uncategorized
Blog Archives
- September 2017 (8)
- August 2017 (13)
- July 2017 (13)
- June 2017 (13)
- May 2017 (14)
- April 2017 (10)
- March 2017 (14)
- February 2017 (12)
- January 2017 (10)
- December 2016 (9)
- November 2016 (13)
- October 2016 (13)
- September 2016 (13)
- August 2016 (14)
- July 2016 (13)
- June 2016 (13)
- May 2016 (13)
- April 2016 (12)
- March 2016 (11)
- February 2016 (13)
- January 2016 (12)
- December 2015 (10)
- November 2015 (13)
- October 2015 (13)
- September 2015 (13)
- August 2015 (13)
- July 2015 (14)
- June 2015 (13)
- May 2015 (13)
- April 2015 (11)
- March 2015 (13)
- February 2015 (12)
- January 2015 (11)
- December 2014 (10)
- November 2014 (12)
- October 2014 (14)
- September 2014 (21)
- August 2014 (15)
- July 2014 (13)
- June 2014 (13)
- May 2014 (13)
- April 2014 (10)
- March 2014 (13)
- February 2014 (12)
- January 2014 (12)
- December 2013 (10)
- November 2013 (13)
- October 2013 (13)
- September 2013 (13)
- August 2013 (13)
- July 2013 (14)
- June 2013 (12)
- May 2013 (14)
- April 2013 (13)
- March 2013 (12)
- February 2013 (12)
- January 2013 (13)
- December 2012 (9)
- November 2012 (13)
- October 2012 (14)
- September 2012 (12)
- August 2012 (14)
- July 2012 (13)
- June 2012 (17)
- May 2012 (15)
- April 2012 (11)
- March 2012 (13)
- February 2012 (13)
- January 2012 (12)
- December 2011 (10)
- November 2011 (13)
- October 2011 (14)
- September 2011 (12)
- August 2011 (8)
- July 2011 (3)
- June 2011 (6)
- May 2011 (3)
- April 2011 (4)
- March 2011 (8)
- February 2011 (10)
- January 2011 (8)
- December 2010 (8)
- November 2010 (9)
- October 2010 (3)
- September 2010 (5)
- August 2010 (3)
- July 2010 (5)
- June 2010 (9)
- May 2010 (17)
- April 2010 (15)
- March 2010 (17)
- December 2009 (4)
- November 2009 (1)
- October 2009 (13)
- September 2009 (1)
- August 2009 (1)
- July 2009 (4)
- June 2009 (3)
- May 2009 (2)
- April 2009 (3)
- March 2009 (5)
- February 2009 (3)
- January 2009 (2)
- November 2008 (3)
- October 2008 (3)
- September 2008 (1)
- August 2008 (5)
- July 2008 (4)
- June 2008 (1)
- May 2008 (5)
- April 2008 (8)
- March 2008 (1)
- November 2007 (4)
- October 2007 (2)
- September 2007 (4)
- March 2007 (4)
- February 2007 (5)
- December 2006 (1)
- November 2006 (6)
- October 2006 (7)
- September 2006 (16)
- August 2006 (25)
- July 2006 (5)
- April 2006 (8)
-
Author Archives: Michael Farmer
Take the Pledge! End Madison Avenue’s Manslaughter!
Madison Avenue’s self-destructive practices need to come to an end! In the wake of a decade or more of marketing cost reductions, CMOs have lost credibility and power; procurement departments have confused benchmarking with marketing, and demoralised agencies have seen their capabilities severely compromised through downsizing, juniorising, and Scope of Work inflation. Cost reduction programs have run their course. They were never a credible substitute for brand growth as a way of delivering shareholder value. Continue reading
Posted in agency solutions, customer relationship management, Evalu8ing - Relationship Performance Monitoring, green marketing & sustainability, industry news & trends, interesting observations, strategic management
Comments Off on Take the Pledge! End Madison Avenue’s Manslaughter!
The Ad Industry at War with Itself
This month marks the one-year anniversary of the publication of ANA’s “media transparency” recommendations, which followed a major investigation of media agency practices. Lest we forget how central media transparency is to ANA, Bob Liodice (President and CEO of ANA) and Doug Wood (outside legal counsel) published a MediaVillage article in mid-July reminding us that “if the allegations against the [media] agencies are true, the behaviour is reminiscent of past high-profile financial scandals.” Continue reading
Posted in agency remuneration / compensation, agency solutions, industry news & trends, marketing procurement
Comments Off on The Ad Industry at War with Itself
Who’s Guilty and Who’s Innocent in the Industry’s Transparency Wars?
Bill Duggan recently penned a piece in MediaVillage.com continuing the ANA’s attack on ad agencies – this time over production transparency, which is the code name for unethical and possibly illegal bid-rigging activities conducted by some agencies to secure production contracts at favourable rates. A previous transparency issue, media transparency, was investigated by ANA in 2016, and it confirmed instances of media agencies enriching themselves at client expense through rebates, kickbacks and other “non-transparent” practices, many of them not forbidden by existing contracts. Continue reading
Posted in agency remuneration / compensation, agency solutions, industry news & trends, marketing process optimisation
Comments Off on Who’s Guilty and Who’s Innocent in the Industry’s Transparency Wars?
ANA and 4As Duke It Out in a Complete Mismatch
ANA, ever-faithful and aggressive on behalf of its advertiser members, struck a second blow to 4As recently — a right uppercut to the chin — with a new ANA study of advertising production practices. The report detailed “a range of improper behaviour, including allegations that some agencies have steered production contracts to their in-house production and post-production outfits by urging other companies to inflate their prices during the bidding process,” as reported in WSJ. Continue reading
Posted in agency remuneration / compensation, agency solutions, industry news & trends
Comments Off on ANA and 4As Duke It Out in a Complete Mismatch
Ad Agencies: Prisoners of a Creative Past
Who needed “hands-on management” when revenues were high and automatic, workloads modest, TV dominant, creativity celebrated, brands growing, agencies respected, employees well-paid, parties outrageous and clients long-lasting? Creativity was the foundation of agency success, and to nourish creativity, management got out of the way, lest its intervention destroy the magic. “A creative agency needs to operate like an ant colony,” declared Kevin Roberts, former CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi, “where every ant knows its job and has the freedom to do it. As long as we hire and inspire the right people, to do the right thing … our agency should grow and our creativity should flourish.” Continue reading
Posted in agency remuneration / compensation, agency solutions, interesting observations, marketing process optimisation
Comments Off on Ad Agencies: Prisoners of a Creative Past
“Creativity” Versus “Improved Results”: The Paradigm Needs to Change
Ad agencies and advertisers are victims of the belief that “creativity” is the basis of their current relationships, and that “more creativity” will give them more of what they need. Ad agencies have promoted “creativity” since the days of Bill Bernbach, more than 50 years ago, when agencies were at the top of their game. Advertisers, as their clients, continue to hire agencies for their perceived creativity, provided costs are rock bottom. However, “creativity” is no longer delivering improved brand performance or increasing shareholder value. The search for more creativity is making victims of agencies and CMOs alike — neither lasts very long in a relationship. It’s time for a new paradigm. The “Creative Paradigm” is out of date. It’s not working. Continue reading
Posted in agency solutions, industry news & trends, interesting observations, marketing process optimisation, social media & digital marketing
Comments Off on “Creativity” Versus “Improved Results”: The Paradigm Needs to Change
Ad Agencies are Just Like Cruise Ships
We don’t see many Big Ideas any more. Content may be king, but content is forgettable, millions of tiny ideas in a million different places. Can anything new be said about a product? Or an industry, like the advertising industry? Well, I’m not a creative — more like a dreaded management consultant. Nevertheless, here’s a cross-industry Big Idea, free for the asking: Ad agencies are just like cruise ships! Don’t dismiss this out of hand. Read on! Continue reading
Posted in agency remuneration / compensation, agency solutions, interesting observations
Comments Off on Ad Agencies are Just Like Cruise Ships
Agencies Struggle with Declining Prices
Since 1992, the average price for creative agency deliverables has declined by 70% in today’s dollars, according to my research [1] for Madison Avenue Manslaughter.
Nevertheless, agencies have managed to deliver growing profit margins for their owners throughout this 25-year period. How was this possible? Are agencies still “fat,” as many procurement executives believe, or have they starved themselves to generate profits in the face of declining prices? Continue reading
Posted in agency remuneration / compensation, agency solutions, industry news & trends, marketing procurement
Comments Off on Agencies Struggle with Declining Prices
The Terrible Outcomes of Lower Growth in Advertising
Growth is the engine of wealth and success. Stock prices soar. Companies expand, hire and promote, and salaries rise. Optimism abounds. Everyone has a place in a growing future. The party does not go on forever, as we know. Growth rates slow, and sometimes they halt — the reasons vary, but it’s inevitable. Still, the end of growth is shocking, and the advertising industry is now facing the shock. Continue reading
Posted in agency remuneration / compensation, agency solutions, industry news & trends, marketing process optimisation, marketing procurement, strategic management
Comments Off on The Terrible Outcomes of Lower Growth in Advertising
Ignorance of Pricing is Ruining Ad Agencies
All companies sell products or services at a price, and managing price is a major responsibility of top management. Car companies sell cars, and sticker prices are marked on side windows. Coca-Cola sells concentrate to its bottlers, setting price per gallon to match market circumstances. Pizza-Hut sells pizzas in restaurants, and pizza prices are marked on the menus. Bain sells consulting studies to corporations and prices them by study length and complexity. Agencies, though, are confused about what they sell and how to price it. Their ignorance of pricing is ruining agency operations and destroying agency value for clients, employees and holding company owners. The advertising industry is the only industry in the world without a concept of pricing. Continue reading
Posted in agency remuneration / compensation, agency solutions, interesting observations, marketing procurement
Comments Off on Ignorance of Pricing is Ruining Ad Agencies
Heaven and Hell in Advertising
Share183 Tweet86 +18 Share10Shares 287This post is by Michael Farmer, Chairman of TrinityP3 USA and author of Madison Avenue Manslaughter: an inside view of fee-cutting clients, profit-hungry owners and declining ad agencies, which won the Axiom Gold Business Book Award for … Continue reading
Posted in agency search & selection, agency solutions, industry news & trends, interesting observations, marketing process optimisation, marketing procurement, return on investment
Comments Off on Heaven and Hell in Advertising
Are Advertisers “Bad Hombres” for Their Ad Agencies?
Ad agencies have had a tough time for the past decade. Reduced retainers. Disappearing AOR relationships, as clients expanded their portfolios of agencies. Inflating Scopes of Work, straining the capabilities of agencies’ downsized and juniorised staffs. There’s more to this. Auction-based bidding of SOW projects. Inhouse agencies. Advertising relationships embracing management consulting firms. Significantly shortened agency-client relationships. Continue reading
Posted in agency remuneration / compensation, agency solutions, industry news & trends, marketing procurement
Comments Off on Are Advertisers “Bad Hombres” for Their Ad Agencies?
The Low Road or the High Road for Ad Agencies compensation?
The industry road that ad agencies are wandering down is about to narrow. Sooner or later, agencies will find themselves at a fork that is less like a choice and more like an inevitably. The fork will not involve a 50-50 choice. Heads to the left; tails to the right? No; it’s not that kind of fork. The choice will be between the High Road, to the left, and the Low Road to the right. The choice is not about political choice during this Trumpian age. It’s not about Blue States to the left or Red States to the right. It’s not about brands-as-causes versus brands-as-brands. Continue reading
Posted in agency remuneration / compensation, agency solutions, data & direct marketing, interesting observations, social media & digital marketing, strategic management
Comments Off on The Low Road or the High Road for Ad Agencies compensation?
Industry Transparency Is a One-Way Mirror
Advertisers have found many ways to dominate and commoditise their ad agency relationships. Transparency is the latest hot issue, justifying outrage over certain media agency practices and setting the stage for reviews of media contracts and fees. Agency hiring and firing remain another advertiser favourite, and the pace of agency replacement has certainly quickened over time. Next in line are declining fees and growing creative Scopes of Work, along with benchmarking studies, the threat of internal agencies, intellectual property disputes, project-based bidding and lengthened payment terms. Continue reading
Posted in agency remuneration / compensation, agency search & selection, agency solutions, industry news & trends, marketing procurement
Comments Off on Industry Transparency Is a One-Way Mirror
Advertisers with Performance Problems Turn to Management Consultants
“Watch out! They are coming!” reported The Drum when Accenture and Deloitte appeared on the pitch list for Nissan-Renault’s global account review. They are “spreading their tentacles, seduced by marketing services!” Accenture sees it another way: “CMOs are seeking our talents, not the other way around.” Is consulting going to the mountain, or is the mountain coming to consulting? Continue reading
Posted in data & direct marketing, industry news & trends, marketing process optimisation, marketing procurement, social media & digital marketing, strategic management
Comments Off on Advertisers with Performance Problems Turn to Management Consultants
Subscribe
Vimeo
Youtube
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
RSS
Slideshare
Reviewed Books
Four Square
Google Maps
Google+
Thanks for visiting the TrinityP3 Blog. We welcome your comments. Please understand this is a moderated blog. All comments will be reviewed prior to posting. As a result, there will be a delay in the posting of comments. Not all comments will be posted. Comments may also be removed after they are posted. Please see our Terms of Use for more information.