This document summarizes research on client-agency relationships and value creation. It includes interviews and surveys of clients and agencies. Key findings are that clients and agencies often have different perspectives on briefs, skills/knowledge, goals, and interactions. Agencies perceive clients as lacking focus, information, and approval in briefs. Clients perceive agencies as lacking interrogation and alignment. Both note lack of understanding from the other side. The research identifies areas of potential improvement like clarifying processes, expectations, and feedback. Future workshops are proposed to further engage clients and agencies based on the findings.

1. Client-Agency Relationships
Value Creation
or
Value Destruction?
Professor Tim Hughes
Dr Mario Vafeas
Applied Marketing
Group

2. Research Method
 25 one-to-one interviews with clients, agency
management, and agency creatives (nine
case studies) in 2013-14
 Additional qualitative data from three
workshops in 2014
 Survey questionnaire (64 responses from
agencies) in 2014

3. Frequently mentioned words
‘Battle’
8 mentions
‘Conflict’
8 mentions
‘Fight’
7 mentions

4. Client
resources
Agency
resources
Interaction process
and
Resource integration
Creative
output
Co-creation

5. The Brief
Agencies say…
 Lack of focus
 Lack of information
 Lack of senior
manager sign-off
 Lack of time (and
money)
Clients say…
 Lack of interrogation
by agency
 Lack of alignment
 Agency cost
estimates unrealistic

6. The Brief
Agencies Say… Clients say…
It’s very rare we get a clear
brief. (Creative, case 1)
We’ve improved our processes
so things are better now than
they were. (Marketing
Manager, case 1)
The junior managers give you
changes they want made
before it goes up the ranks.
You make a whole set of
changes. Then you show it to
the senior stakeholders and
you find out it was off brief in
the first place.
(Account Director, case 3)
We need to put the energy
at the beginning to make
sure the brief is absolutely
right and that we’re clear
about what ‘good’ looks like.
(Marketing Director, case 3)

7. Agency Perceptions of Client Brief
Item Mean score
The brief contains sufficient information 1.92
The brief contains a clear focus 2.53
The brief provides sufficient time for the job 2.47
The brief provides sufficient budget for the job 2.66
5=strongly agree, 1=strongly disagree
N=64

8. Knowledge and Skills
Agencies say about (some)
clients…
 Lack
understanding of
creative process
 Inability to evaluate
creative work
Clients say about (some)
agencies…
 Lack of
understanding of
client world
 Narrow creative
horizons

9. Knowledge and Skills
Agencies Say… Clients say…
No, I don’t always feel confident
if I’m perfectly honest and that’s
why I try to make it a
conversation with the agency so
I can get their opinions.
(Head of Marketing, case 6)
There’s a lot of people out
there who think they know
what they’re talking about but
don’t. Some can be open to
learning from their agencies,
but others are defensive and
purport to know when they
don’t. This can compromise
the quality of work.
(Managing Director, case 9)

10. Agency Perceptions of Client Skills
Item Mean score
Clients are good at writing a brief 2.23
Clients are good at articulating what they want 2.63
Clients are good at evaluating creative work 2.59
Clients understand the creative process 2.30
5=strongly agree, 1=strongly disagree
N=64

11. Have you ever had training in judging
creative work?
1 2 3
0%
73%
27%
1. Yes a very full
training
2. I have had some
training
3. I have not had any
training

12. Has any of your agencies offered you
training in judging creative work?
1 2
91%
9%
1. Yes
2. No

13. Goals and Value Judgements
Agencies say about
clients…
 Risk-averse
Clients say about
agencies…
 Too safe
OR
 Radical just for the
sake of it
 Enhancing their
creative reputation

14. Goals and Value judgements
Agencies Say… Clients say…
They’re going to research the
hell out of this and we’ll be left
with a generic piece of work
(Creative Director, case 2)
We’re trying to sell a product;
they’re trying to promote their
artistic work (Marketing Director,
case 3)
You need more than one option
but I think the ‘safe, middle of the
road, and radical’ approach is the
agency covering all the options
(Head of Marketing, case 6)

15. Interaction
Agencies say about
clients…
 Prescriptive
 Poor process
management
Clients say about
agencies…
 Inflexible and
stubborn
 Account managers
can impede
communication

16. Interaction
Agencies Say… Clients say…
They are stubborn and I have
to say to them ‘unless you shift
your position, we can’t go
forward’ And yet, despite this
happening year after year, they
continue to insist on doing
things their way and it delays
the process.
(Brand Manager, case 9)
They end up restricting
themselves and don’t get any
value out of using us. You end up
as the person moving the mouse
for them. (Creative, case 5)
Clients can sometimes say ‘I
don’t really like it, it’s not really
doing what I want it to do’ but
what they really want is help to
fine-tune their thinking rather
than us saying ‘OK you don’t
like that, we’ll change it’.
(Managing Director, case 9)

17. Relationship
Agencies say …
 Danger of
complacency
 Treated as a
supplier not a
partner
 Better output for
clients we like
Clients say …
 Threat of
opportunism
 Lack of
transparency
 Good relationship
helps the work
 Poor management
of staff turnover

18. Relationship
Agencies Say… Clients say…
If it doesn’t work out, you fire
them and get another one (Brand
Manager, client workshop)
You get used to working with
clients and give them what you
think they’re going to buy, but
you stop inspiring them. Then
they wake up one day and
realise they’re not getting the
creativity they want.
(Creative Director, case 7)
I’d like to think the relationship
helps the work. I’d like to think
they like working with me.
We’ve got to know each other
and it helps us get the best out
of a project.
(Brand Manager, case 8)

19.  Do not share the same vision of creativity
61% of clients
70% of agency execs
 Clients too afraid to take risks – 75% of agency
execs
 Agencies more interested in selling work rather than
solving problems – 65% of clients
 88% of clients claim to speak freely
 36% of agency execs claim to speak freely
Source: RPA & USA Today survey 2014

20. Workshops with individual
agencies
 6 agencies so far
 Two hour sessions
 4-22 people in each session
 Presentation plus discussion

21. Workshops with individual
agencies
1. What are your key issues in dealing with
clients?
2. What actions could you take to
improve/deal with these key issues?
3. How could you implement these actions
over the next six months?
4. What policies and processes could be put
in place to maintain improvements?

22. Example
Area for
improvement
Issues identified in research & workshops Actions to address issues
Meeting
client
expectations
Importance of good communication and continually
managing client’s expectations
Importance of client induction and of client having
knowledge of agency processes
Is the client aware of timing required for different
types of jobs?
Is the client aware of the costing process?
At what stage does the client need to sign off costs?
Would additional training help the client in dealing
with the agency (for example in judging creative
work)?

23. Areas for improvement
identified in workshops
 Customising process according to client
size/potential
 Importance of kick off meeting/contact
 Areas to cover in first meeting
 How to get better feedback from the client
 Tailoring client communications to their
needs
 Getting the most out of progress meetings
 Getting sufficient feedback from clients

24. Particular challenges for
digital agencies
 Clients‘ lack of understanding of statistics in
reports
 Inexperienced clients
 Lack of understanding of digital by clients
 Fast-moving ‘landscape’ of social media
 Availability of clients
 Bad clients demotivate agency staff (good
digital staff difficult to recruit)
 Demonstrating agency added value
 Need to ‘educate’ the digital community

25. Future workshops
 Workshops with client companies, agencies
or both together!
 Demonstrate impact from our research
 Engagement with the marketing and creative
community
 Opportunity to develop the research further
(using anonymous examples)
 Good use of allocated research time (but not
unlimited!)