Monday 6 January 2014
The client/agency relationship blog: 2014 and innovation
The client/agency relationship blog: 2014 and innovation: The ten day break over Christmas and New Year was a good time to pause and reflect and to start thinking about goals for 2014. I am not talk...
2014 and innovation
The ten day break over Christmas and New Year was a good time to pause and reflect and to start thinking about goals for 2014. I am not talking about new year resolutions - we all love to make them and break them - but rather some specific goals in the world of client/agency relationships.
The IAS has a big year ahead.
First of all we are introducing the four alternative methods of pitching - these are:
* the chemistry pitch
* the no-pitch pitch
* Pitch in a day - PIAD
* the workshop or tissue pitch
We think that these will be of huge benefit to clients and agencies alike as they will take a lot of the pain out of pitching - including cost and time.
Secondly we are focusing heavily on our TLC range of products. We invented these products five years ago when the IAS started out here in South Africa. Based very much in the management disciplines that I learned when running ad agencies and PR agencies, these products are designed to assist marketers and agencies alike in the construction and management of their service level agreements and contracts.
Currently we have two products:
* TLC which is a management tool which measures client/agency relationships at periodic intervals ie nine months, 12 months or more often
* Honeymoon Helper - which sets and manages up the early client/agency relationship expectations
Both of these products have worked well to date and we are now re inventing them for the market in 2014. In addition we plan to introduce a third product which will manage the immediate post pitch work including the agency handover arrangements, the construction of the contract and SLA and the expectations on both sides. To date, the product has not been named but "First three months" is the working title.
Beyond relationship management, we will be investing time and money into opening offices in Lagos, Nigeria as well as in Cape Town.
In Cape Town there are currently 157 agencies of all types - advertising, PR, media, digital and design - along with 220 large clients. It is a market we have been active in - albeit at a distance - for five years and although we know that 70% of the business of marketing communications is in Johannesburg, Cape Town has a sizeable market and clients will welcome our presence there.
Nigeria - as we all know - is the second largest economy in Africa and is destined to over take South Africa this year. Colleagues in the country assure me that our services are needed and that training is an imperative. In addition we now receive enquiries almost daily regarding Nigeria and other parts of Africa - there is no question that the market is there.
Of course back in South Africa, the elections are going to be a huge event during the first four months and it will be interesting to see which agencies are active with which political parties. Political advertising and PR is always very interesting and we will be watching to see which agencies innovate and communicate with the electorate in the most interesting new ways and to see if any new trends emerge.
So in my view, with a world economy on the mend, and with our elections ahead, 2014 is the year to create and innovate.
Opportunities beckon.
Have a great year ahead.
The IAS has a big year ahead.
First of all we are introducing the four alternative methods of pitching - these are:
* the chemistry pitch
* the no-pitch pitch
* Pitch in a day - PIAD
* the workshop or tissue pitch
We think that these will be of huge benefit to clients and agencies alike as they will take a lot of the pain out of pitching - including cost and time.
Secondly we are focusing heavily on our TLC range of products. We invented these products five years ago when the IAS started out here in South Africa. Based very much in the management disciplines that I learned when running ad agencies and PR agencies, these products are designed to assist marketers and agencies alike in the construction and management of their service level agreements and contracts.
Currently we have two products:
* TLC which is a management tool which measures client/agency relationships at periodic intervals ie nine months, 12 months or more often
* Honeymoon Helper - which sets and manages up the early client/agency relationship expectations
Both of these products have worked well to date and we are now re inventing them for the market in 2014. In addition we plan to introduce a third product which will manage the immediate post pitch work including the agency handover arrangements, the construction of the contract and SLA and the expectations on both sides. To date, the product has not been named but "First three months" is the working title.
Beyond relationship management, we will be investing time and money into opening offices in Lagos, Nigeria as well as in Cape Town.
In Cape Town there are currently 157 agencies of all types - advertising, PR, media, digital and design - along with 220 large clients. It is a market we have been active in - albeit at a distance - for five years and although we know that 70% of the business of marketing communications is in Johannesburg, Cape Town has a sizeable market and clients will welcome our presence there.
Nigeria - as we all know - is the second largest economy in Africa and is destined to over take South Africa this year. Colleagues in the country assure me that our services are needed and that training is an imperative. In addition we now receive enquiries almost daily regarding Nigeria and other parts of Africa - there is no question that the market is there.
Of course back in South Africa, the elections are going to be a huge event during the first four months and it will be interesting to see which agencies are active with which political parties. Political advertising and PR is always very interesting and we will be watching to see which agencies innovate and communicate with the electorate in the most interesting new ways and to see if any new trends emerge.
So in my view, with a world economy on the mend, and with our elections ahead, 2014 is the year to create and innovate.
Opportunities beckon.
Have a great year ahead.
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