Contributor’s Quotations:

An important and unique feature in Agency Mania: Harnessing the madness of client/agency relationships for high-impact results is its assembly of contributions from dozens of the most important individuals dealing with agency management from across the industry, and from both sides of the fence: clients and agencies. There are over a hundred of these brief quotations where these “movers and shakers” share their experiences and wisdom with the reader.

As Director of Global Agency Strategy and Management for the Microsoft Corporation, Bruno Gralpois is recognized as a seasoned pro in the business of agency management. But in Agency Mania, rather than doing all the talking himself, the author thought it would be useful to let readers hear to collect the insights from many of his colleagues from across a wide spectrum of backgrounds and industries. Their remarkable input provides Agency Mania with the kind of depth and perspective that can be found no where else.

This running commentary in Agency Mania comes from advertising executives, marketing managers, advertising directors, creative directors, and agency managers from such organizations as Ford, Starbucks, Burger King, AT&T, MasterCard, Macy’s, Intel, Best Buy, Eli Lilly, Wal-Mart Stores., Johnson & Johnson and many more. These are the creative minds that are shaping this industry right now.  And the inside track information that they provide is invaluable for anyone even thinking about getting involved in the crazy business that is discussed in detail in Agency Mania.

Here is a small sampling of these quotes:Quotes Library (by topic area):

Why we need agencies

“We expect our agencies to bring holistic thinking to our business, a depth of business understanding coupled with superior strategic thinking, proactively coming up with ideas, competitive intelligence, and depth of expertise across multiple categories beyond ours.”
Kevin Parham, Director Global Advertising – Campbell Soup

• “Clients do not want agencies; they want strategic partners that are looking out for the best interest of their company. I’ve seen agencies over the years that conduct themselves as vendors, not strategic partners. Strategic partners know your business inside out, the internal workings of your organization and know how to sell ideas.”

Michael Fitzgerald, Associate Director - Business Advertising – AT&T Inc.

• “The agency value proposition is to provide capabilities that are outside of a client’s core business, and to deliver those effectively, efficiently and do it at a lower cost. It hasn’t really changed.”

Julie Gibbs, Director Corporate Brand Marketing, Campaign Management, Adobe

• “To make themselves valuable to their clients, agencies must invest the time to understand their client’s business and industry. When your agency is sending you something they’ve seen in the news that is industry specific, you know you have more than an agency partner, you have a trusted advisor.”

 Tim Whiting, Sr Director Global Marketing - Motorola

• “To deliver optimal value to their clients, agencies must refuse to be order takers or simply presenting what the client wants. They must take a seat at the table, being the eyes and ears of what’s happening externally and advocate for work that is effective in the marketplace.”

Mariann Coleman, Director, Global Media Relations – Intel

• “Because of our size and scale, many firms will view Walmart as a vehicle for margin growth. However, we look for agencies willing to join in our mission to save people money so they can live better.  We also believe in being a growth partner; and in turn seek to expose our partners to other parts of our business to increase their opportunities.”

• Carla Dodds, Director Marketing Vendor Management – Walmart

The Mysterious World of Madison Avenue

• “In a world increasingly more digital, one may wonder what place does traditional media hold? At what point does the media landscape get so saturated that it becomes wallpaper? How do companies break-through? This is where partnering with the right agency can make a difference.”

Jeff Devon, Director Global Marketing– HP

• “The advertising industry is highly fragmented. Now we have experts in media, CRM, etc. Everyone is struggling on how to make agencies work together. But we clients want integrated solutions. I don’t want my agencies to compete for land grab. Give me an agency with a 360 degree solution on how to best reach my customer. Clients are looking for agencies with these capabilities, so they don’t have 10 agencies calling them to get an assignment. I want one agency which has full accountability.”  

Susan Markowicz, Global Advertising Agency Manager – Ford Motor Company

• “The global recession has put tremendous pressure on expenses, which in turns, applies significant pressure on media investments and agency fees. It’s requiring all client-side marketers to drive more efficiency in media buying habits and agency partnerships. As clients must do more with less, they need to be more aggressive, use emerging media more heavily and find ways to be more impactful with their communication efforts.”

Amy Fuller (Former Group Executive Worldwide Consumer Marketing, MasterCard Worldwide)

• “It seems as if clients are evolving much faster than agencies these days. Agencies have not been proactive enough and must now keep up with clients.  Agencies have to retool their business to stay relevant to their clients.”

 Tim Williams, President, Ignition consulting Group

• “Marketing will be, of course, carried out in the digital spaces, by people quite different from the ones who inhabit today's agencies.  They will first and foremost be thinkers, capable of coming up with ideas that clients can't imagine themselves -- or else their agencies will no longer exist.  They will be aggressive learners about what is new and interesting in the world.  And they will be what Thomas Friedman calls "versatilists," able to write and draw and program and read research.  Agencies that are able to offer a staff that is like this will resemble Pixar more than they resemble the big agencies of today.”

Jeff Goodby, Co-Chairman and Creative Director – Goodby, Silverstein & Partners

Agency Management

• “Agencies should get better at self-promotion. They are often too conservative and must be bigger advocate for their work and for themselves. They need to remind clients — this is why you hired us, what sets us apart from the competition. ”

Susan Markowicz, Global Advertising Agency Manager – Ford Motor Company

• “As part of Campbell Soup’s training, we use a variety of tools to improve the quality of our engagement with agencies. For example, we conduct role-playing exercises so everyone gets to be the agency. Everyone laughs when we start but soon, they realize how challenging the job of pitching creative ideas can be. This is very enlightening.”

Kevin Parham, Director Global Advertising – Campbell Soup

• “The marketing procurement role is to act as a strategic buffer between the agencies and the needs of the company, answering to both. We like to think about ourselves as another informational point for the agencies and for the business.”

Jeff Devon, Director Global Marketing – HP

• “The whole industry is facing a number of challenges, from dealing with the issue of IP ownership but also value based compensation and sequential liability. In the end, it’s about having clear expectations, scope and roles with your agencies.”

Sherry Ulsh, Director Global Marketing Finance and Procurement , Burger King Corp
“The continued growth of digital and advancements in technology are having a profound impact on the agency landscape. Clients are asking more questions. They want to understand the economics behind these changes. They are getting savvier. They are also pushing agencies to innovate and stay current.” 
Claudia Lezcano, Director of Advertising, Burger King Corp

• “Too many marketing managers are not properly trained to manage agencies. They are often promoted to marketing from finance, operations, or sales functions. As for procurement, I wish they would understand the art and science of advertising and creating ideas, and not view it as a commodity. Procurement is killing great thinking, and clients are going to get mediocre results, since they cannot afford to put the best talent on accounts that are under-paying their agencies. Successful relations are born when clients provide access to agencies, and the agencies behave and communicate and advise in a candid and transparent manner.”

 Marc A. Brownstein, President and CEO, Brownstein Group

Building a Sound Agency Strategy

• “Ford Motor Company has a network-holding based approach to its agency roster. The consolidation of agencies under the WPP virtual umbrella gives us single accountability, a single P&L to worry about, economies of scale and a single point of coordination.”

Susan Markowicz,  Global Advertising Agency Manager – Ford Motor Company

• “Our agency model is continuously evolving.  A lead agency model for parts of our business allows us to streamline the relationship with our agencies.  With this model, many of the challenges around compensation are resolved. Instead of each agency fighting for a share of the budget, we pay the lead agency and the various agencies involved in our business work out the financial details among themselves.”

Jeff Devon, Director Global Marketing– HP

• “Cross agency collaboration can be an on-going challenge, because agencies are highly competitive by nature. However, we continually reinforce the need to operate as one team. All agencies should be involved in the ideation stage. It must be a collaborative, team effort.”

Michael Fitzgerald, Associate Director - Business Advertising – AT&T Inc.

• “Cross-agency collaboration is like asking lions to collaborate. One might try to kill the other one. It’s not fair to your agencies unless you set up clear expectations between the agencies. They may see each other as threats. You can’t say “can’t we all get along?” Clients must direct them on how to do it.”

Julie Gibbs, Director Corporate Brand Marketing, Campaign Management, Adobe

• “Best of breed is our philosophy and approach to agencies, picking the best agencies rather than consolidating under one or more network holding companies. Our internal Agency Management Council ensures that key stakeholders in marketing and procurement are involved in the selection of roster agencies. This grass roots approach facilitates buy-in and accountability.”

 Tom Chetrick, VP Advertising and Marketing Services– Bristol-Myers Squibb

• “I’ve seen agency/client relationships going on for decades. Marketers are not always satisfied. It is challenging to get fresh thinking. Agencies may also act as if there are entitled to the business. How many people do we know have been married for 25 yrs? If agencies experience high turnover, how do clients benefit from the continuity of a long term partnership?”

Brett Colbert, Global Manager, Procurement Advertising – Anheuser Busch In Bev

Conducting a Successful Agency Search

• “When conducting an agency search, best practices are to be fully engaged throughout the process with the search consultants to ensure that the company’s best interests and requirements are met.”

Carla Dodds, Director Marketing Vendor Management – Walmart

• “In the 90’s, agency-client relationships lasted an average of 10 years; by 2004, that tenure was down to 5 years; and now it’s 2 1/2 years. The reason? There is greater pressure on marketing directors to perform—or else. So that trickles down to agencies. Too many agency searches are begun without proper authorization from senior management; as a result, the reviews are either put on hold, or terminated altogether. Too many agencies are included in a single review—5 agencies (maximum) should be included in any review. If a client can’t make a decision after reviewing five agencies (that were selected for specific criteria), then there are other problems within the client company. Best practices: not asking agencies for intellectual property on spec; reimbursing agencies for their time to pitch; fewer agencies in the review; full and regular communication throughout the review process; getting to know the agencies during the process (ie: one client took our proposed team from Brownstein Group out to lunch to get to know us, as step in the review. If they didn’t enjoy eating lunch with us, they certainly weren’t going to enjoy working with us day in and day out.)” 

Marc A. Brownstein, President and CEO, Brownstein Group

• “Creative is where you establish emotional connections between people and work, and between a company and its customers. It is a fundamental part of any meaningful agency review.”

Julie Gibbs, Director Corporate Brand Marketing, Campaign Management, Adobe

• “One of the most common mistake companies make during an agency search is not invest enough time to get to know the account team that will actually work on their business. In the end, this is less about the agency itself as it is about the people working on your account.”

Tim Whiting, Sr. Director Global Marketing – Motorola

• “Clients should always ensure upfront and tight alignment at a senior management level as to the criteria on what to look in an agency prior to initiating a search. This is about leadership but this is also about being respectful to the time and resources agencies are investing going into a pitch.”

Jennifer Berger, director, marketing & advertising services – Starbucks

Setting up a Solid Agency Contract

• “Don’t’ use the contract from the old agency and dust it off for the new one. In that contract might be hidden the reasons why you are looking for a new agency in the first place.”

Julie Gibbs, Director Corporate Brand Marketing, Campaign Management - Adobe

• “The most important parts of a contract are the scope and staffing, as well as, the transparency of the costs for those two areas.”

 Carla Dodds, Director Marketing Vendor Management -  Walmart

• “Agency contracts have changed drastically over the past few years. More often contracts involve some aspect of system compliance or integration as part of the scope of work. Technology and Marketing have converged.”

Mollie Weston,  Director Agency Management Operations, BestBuy

• “We have solid contracts in place with our agencies based on years of best practices. We are constantly updating our contracts to reflect the reality of the marketplace. But what truly matters is turning a piece of paper into something you can live with and making it practical for both parties.”

Sherry Ulsh, Director Global Marketing Finance and Procurement , Burger King Corp

• “We believe contracts should be simple and straightforward, with bonuses offered only if the agency outperforms very specific goals.   There's still nothing wrong with charging by the hour, with overhead congealed in the hourly rates.”

Jeff Goodby, Co-Chairman and Creative Director – Goodby, Silverstein & Partners

• “They should first ask if the agency has a standard contact. Many clients insist that their contract be used, without seeing what the agency typically uses. Most common roadblocks are about ownership of intellectual property. Clients want to own the agency’s work; so do the agencies.”

Marc A. Brownstein, President and CEO, Brownstein Group

Determining the Right Agency Compensation

• “In today’s environment, there is strong momentum to drive compensation down as the market softens. But be careful what you buy and for how much. Especially when you want the best people working on your account. Before "cutting the agency fee", be an informed buyer and understand the dynamics of the marketplace. In the end, you'll get what you pay for!”

Kevin Parham, Director Global Advertising  – Campbell Soup

•  “Agencies should find ways to make it easy for clients to work with them ...Large agencies have to figure out how to better leverage their portfolio on their client’s behalf. Clients want to have access to top notch “out of the box” thinkers without having to struggle through a series of one-off contract negotiations.”

Jeff Devon, Director Global Marketing– HP

• “A retainer based agency compensation model can give clients more flexibility and eliminate waste by allowing clients and their agency partners to spend more time doing the work and driving the business forward.”

Jennifer Berger, Director, Marketing & Advertising Services – Starbucks

• “When I was on the agency side, I always thought ‘You work for your client, you get paid by the agency’. Agencies can make themselves more valuable to their clients by sharing the client’s culture, being forthcoming and strategically looking for the client’s best interest. If cost effectiveness is a key priority to the client, then be it.”

Brett Colbert, Global Manager, Procurement Advertising – Anheuser Busch In Bev

• “In the end, there is no silver bullet to compensation. Agency compensation should be first and foremost aligned to a company’s philosophy. It’s about identifying what’s important to you then managing the agency relationship fairly and consistently.”

James R. Zambito, Global Marketing Group Controller – Johnson & Johnson

•  “Best practices in regards to negotiating compensation, as all negotiators will tell you:  don't negotiate on a single point/position; start discussing mutual interests and the options which may satisfy those interests. By doing so you'll find that there are several ways to satisfy both client and agency needs.”

Charlie Silvestro, Vice President, Global Agency Operations- Mastercard Worldwide

How to Successfully Brief Agencies

• “The most difficult part of writing a brief is to ask for one simple idea. A good brief is single-minded, easy to read, not filled with detail, with enough range and room for the agency to come back with ideas. If the agency needs to flip through multiple pages to understand (or not understand) what the ask of the agency is, then you don’t have a clear brief. If everyone reading the brief sees the exact same storyboard in their head , then the brief is too narrow and prescriptive.”

Kevin Parham, Director Global Advertising  – Campbell Soup

• “Like a marriage, agency/client relationships require patience, fairness and honesty. In my career, I’ve seen colleagues complaining about the agency. I would ask “Is the work on strategy?”, “Is it on brief?”. And I would be told that the agency never got a brief. Everyone has to play their  part or it won’t work ...honest feedback, assuming the competencies actually exist, will correct most problems.”

Jeff Devon, Director Global Marketing– HP

• “It’s important to get full buy-in of the marketing brief across all levels, at the outset of a program, well before it gets to the agency. The information contained in the brief, needs to target-based, relevant, insightful and backed by research.  Sometimes, organizations can fall in the habit of employing past templates and as a result, provide incomplete information to the agency. The marketing brief cannot fall short of providing clear direction.”

Michael Fitzgerald, Associate Director - Business Advertising – AT&T Inc.

• “A brief is called “brief” for a reason.”

Julie Gibbs, Director Corporate Brand Marketing, Campaign Management, Adobe

• “To encourage cross-agency collaboration, we conduct agency share days during which agencies come together to be briefed and share critical information among their peers. One of them, often a creative lead agency, might be assigned as ‘captain’ and is on point to ensure the sharing of information among participating agencies on an ongoing basis.”

 Tom Chetrick, VP Advertising and Marketing Services– Bristol-Myers Squibb

• “Our close partnership with BBDO including their involvement in early stage planning discussions has led to higher quality briefings and better deliverables. We want them to have a seat at the table.”

Jennifer Berger, Director, Marketing & Advertising Services – Starbucks

Conducting Performance Evaluation

• “Today we have qualitative metrics to conduct performance evaluations. We also have an open discussion every six months with our partners to review how they did.  This is also a time to learn if we as a company are providing our partners with the tools for success.”

Carla Dodds, Director Marketing Vendor Management, Walmart

• “We provide our agencies a work environment that is fostering collaboration. The client should always set the tone and expectations on how agencies should work together. The key is to facilitate the agency linkage to other agencies and internal groups.”

Charlie Silvestro, Vice President, Global Agency Operations- Mastercard Worldwide
“We believe that agencies and clients do their best work when they provide each other feedback on how to work together most effectively. A 360 survey twice a year facilitates an objective and meaningful conversations about the relationship and how to improve it. We also conduct project debriefs so that both parties receive timely actionable feedback”
Mollie Weston, Director Agency Management Operations, BestBuy

• “We evaluate our agency relationships and each other once a year, but maintain an open dialogue all year long. We put performance plans in place when issues are identified and provide clear and specific examples to help resolve them. We are willing to make that commitment and our agencies are grateful in return because they feel that they end up being a better agency as a result. “

 Sherry Ulsh, Director Global Marketing Finance and Procurement , Burger King Corp

• “The most common pitfall is not to set specific goals in terms of sales, name recognition, etc.  We once worked for a chain of restaurants that wanted to be sold.  That was a good goal to have.  You could work with that.” 

Jeff Goodby, Co-Chairman and Creative Director – Goodby, Silverstein & Partners

• “Clients and agencies should sit down at the beginning of a relationship and agree to specific metrics. And then measure them consistently, every quarter. When this is not done, both sides are set up for failure. When it is done properly, both sides enjoy a healthy, prosperous long-term relationship.”

Marc A. Brownstein, President and CEO, Brownstein Group

Driving Towards Mutual Success

• “It all comes down to trust. If you trust your partner, you can talk frankly with one and another, you can get most value from the relationship. People who understand the agency business have better relationships with agencies. It’s a collaboration of ideas, a sort of give and take, and a safe relationship where people can say things and not fear to be being penalized for it. My best agency relationships are those who tell me when I am being unreasonable.”

Susan Markowicz, Global Advertising Agency Manager – Ford Motor Company

• “In my experience, it is imperative to build successful relationships with our agencies. We trust each other. We see them as strategic partners to our company. We continually encourage them to bring new, innovative ideas to the table.”

Michael Fitzgerald, Associate Director - Business Advertising – AT&T Inc.

• “Agencies establish relationships across the client sphere of influence, engaging at different levels. To be effective at building and sustaining a strong relationship, they have to understand and adapt to different perspectives, from the executive level, functional interactions to the procurement organization.”

Tim Whiting, Sr Director Global Marketing - Motorola

• “We all own making these agency relationships work as they do a great deal of the actual work on our behalf. Good relationships will yield desirable results.  Relationships left unattended won’t.”

 Mike Delman, VP Global Marketing Xbox, Microsoft Corp 

• “Effective relationships are based on having open communications upfront. We speak to our agencies every two weeks to counsel them, give them insight on how to be more successful on our business. This is what partnership is all about.”

 A large advertiser

• “My experience over the years has been that some agencies do not instinctively work well together. At Macy’s, I want every agency on our business to know that they are a critical piece of the wheel but they must play their part in making us successful together. They must show their willingness to work with other partners. Every month, all our agencies sit together at the same table to partner and ultimately make us more successful.”

Martine Reardon, VP of Marketing – Macy’s

A glimpse at the future

• “The world is changing. Traditional agencies have to shift their focus, have to think differently. The digital landscape is growing fast as clients like Ford invest more heavily in it. From an agency resource perspective, digital has a huge impact. After all, Digital is not an after-thought. It is no longer a linear process either.”

Susan Markowicz,  Global Advertising Agency Manager – Ford Motor Company

• “In the years ahead, we are likely to continue to see drastic changes in media consumption coupled with increasingly better performance indicators and measurement tools. The entire agency industry needs to reinvest itself from the ground up to deal with so many choices and the greater complexity.”

Kevin Parham, Director Global Advertising  – Campbell Soup

• “Digital agencies must learn to apply their skills to traditional advertising or direct marketing services. And traditional advertising and direct marketing agencies must continue to rapidly build digital skills. In the future, I believe pure digital agencies as defined today will cease to exist.”

Tom Chetrick, VP Advertising and Marketing Services– Bristol-Myers Squibb

• “The agency industry should seize the opportunity to step up in the strategy area they were once known to master. Today, agencies are not simply expected to produce great creative but are helping clients solve fundamental business problems, especially in the pharmaceutical industry.  Agencies should determine the strategic skill set they wish to offer, which will differ in scope from what is available from consulting companies.”

Tom Chetrick, VP Advertising and Marketing Services– Bristol-Myers Squibb

• To make themselves even more valuable to their clients, agencies must demonstrate breakthrough thinking, rich consumer insight, greater innovation, especially across digital channels, a willingness to bring new perspectives to the table without being afraid to challenge clients and lastly, an ability to perform and achieve outstanding results.” 

Jennifer Berger, Director, Marketing & Advertising Services – Starbucks

• “Agencies must get more efficient in the years ahead to address some of the marketing challenges faced by their clients. Efficiency must be a priority.”

Mariann Coleman, Director, Global Media Relations – Intel