How would you like to save around 40% off your advertising agency costs?

Changes made after execution account for a huge percentage of wasted budgets
In our years of experience we have noticed that advertisers who make multiple changes to their work invariably end up in a situation where costs skyrocket, and their end result is poor. With a little communication and forward planning most of these changes would have been avoided.

When the goalposts are moved
Some changes are inevitable and nobody is able to foresee every possible circumstance. The trick is to know how to change the game when the goalposts have been moved. This means reconsulting with all parties and altering the brief to take account of new information.

Understanding everyone's role
Avoiding these changes requires an understanding and appreciation of everyone’s role in the process. Would you tell your electrician which cables to use - make him pull them out and replace them over and over?

Successful businessmen like Sir Richard Branson have realised that although they are the leaders of their companies they don’t need to prove it at every level of the business. They simply set directions (their vision) and leave the getting there to those they entrust to do the job. Sure those employees are made accountable, as they should be. But they are also rewarded and encouraged to feel as though they are in a partnership which respects their contribution.

Loss of incentive
When a service provider like an agency is made to do exactly as told, and are no longer respected as a partner in the client’s success, they very quickly lose incentive. The employees of the agency stop bothering to think a task through or to invest energetic thought into it because they expect the client to change their work anyway. They become much more unproductive and a vicious cycle is begun.

Having worked in numerous agencies, large and small, over the past 36 years I have seen this first hand at every one of them.

Experience is the benchmark
Part of the problem lies in the fact that anybody can buy a computer and some desktop publishing programs and call themselves an advertising agency.

The only true test of an agency is in its experience. Experience in this business can only be measured by time in the field and variety of products or services handled.

Speed dating pitches

Selecting your agency on the result of a hastily produced one-off pitch idea
You wouldn't choose your marriage partner on the basis of a speed dating session but some clients choose their agency on what they can come up with after a couple of quick meetings and a single paragraph of brief.

I don't pretend to have the answer to the dilemma of finding an appropriate agency and I realise that marriage is a slightly more important endeavour but something more satisfying to all partners is required. Got any ideas? Leave a comment.

Spelling trouble for business

Don't send me your resumé with a speling error in it - it'll go strait into the bin!
It seems that in these days of SMS messaging many people have become increasingly careless about correct spelling and punctuation. A simple thing such as proofreading material for publication is clearly too time consuming for some. Lately I've seen glaring errors in newspapers, magazines, advertisements and especially emails.

Professional people who have not taken the care to ensure that their communications are carefully checked show a disregard that I fear is a reflection of their business dealings. If their attention to punctuation and other details is so poor, how can I trust them to do the job correctly? It would probably be rushed and perfunctory with no attention to detail. I would even prefer not to trade with this person.

Professional writers make mistakes and overlook the odd typo, but it's a simple thing to take the time to re-read and edit your writing. If not, then you could be missing out on customers.