Client Agency Relationships: Value Creation or Value Destruction? by Dr Mario Vafeas and Professor Tim Hughes, UWE Business School

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

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

4. 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

5. 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)

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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)

9. 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

10. 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

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

12. 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

13. 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)

14. Interaction
‘Battle’
8 mentions
‘Conflict’
8 mentions
‘Fight’
7 mentions

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. Top Ten Tips
for effective, efficient, and collaborative
client-agency relationships

20. Autonomy
- Trust the agency’s expertise
- But sometimes “just do it” is inevitable
10

21. Expectations
- Alignment around brief and output
- Stakeholder consensus and sign-off
- Transparency regarding costs
9

22. Communication
- Clients open to hearing the truth
(within reason!)
- Instigate formal two-way appraisals
(with fair and constructive feedback)
8

23. Commitment
- A degree of client commitment increases
agency motivation
- Negotiate space for risk-taking and proaction
7

24. Creatives
- More interaction between
client and creative
6

25. Manage staff turnover
- Handover
- Communication
- Senior manager involvement
- Knowledge management
5

26. Education
- Clients open to training
- Agencies can (and should) help
4

27. Mutual understanding
- Understand each other’s worlds
3

28. Industry standards
- Provide adequate resources for the task
- Agree service levels
- Free pitches devalue creativity
- Opportunism destroys trust
2

29. Nurture (not Nature)
- Joint responsibility to maintain and
develop relationship value
1

30. Can We Help You?

31. Can we help you?
 Neutral and objective
 Extensive experience in management roles
in clients and agencies
 Can work with agencies, clients or agencies
and their clients
 Share results of research
 Facilitate staff in coming up with ways to
improve the effectiveness of the
client/agency relationship

32. The process
1. Agree objectives
2. Run workshop to identify key issues, action
plans for improvement and ways to judge
implementation
3. Review implementation and adjust action
plans
4. Establish policies and processes to
maintain improvements.

33. 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)?

34. Our motivation
 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!)