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                    [post_content] => There were so many important things to discuss this week that we couldn't pick just one. Instead, we're trying something a little different, focusing on the top five things that moved us this week—and all are valuable for agency leaders to know.

Read on to explore what's new for in-housing, winning new business without pitching, creative effectiveness, treating people decently, and new business insights from global consultancy R3. As always, you'll find our insights layered in to address what it means for agencies.

In-housing fails
Over at The Drum, Sam Bradley covered a new small study on in-housing conducted by digital agency Collective. 150 chief marketing officers at companies with more than 250 employees participated. The study revealed that CMOs are disillusioned with in-housing.

33% of CMOs at mid-size companies (with 500 employees or less) say in-housing is an operational/managerial nightmare. Over 50% of CMOs at enterprise organizations (with 2,000 or more employees) agree it's a nightmare. And 39% of CMOS think in-house marketing teams lack inspiration.

Despite its limitations, the study delivered some satisfaction for many agencies who have been waiting for the pendulum to swing back in their direction. (Should you want to bask for a moment in the petty glory of marketers’ in-housing challenges, we won’t judge.)

But is in-housing going anywhere? Don’t count on it. Instead, expect an ongoing evolution of how in-house teams and agencies work together.

Need convincing? In a recent presentation to the 4A’s, global consultancy R3 suggested that agencies build “use case experience” from working with clients’ in-house teams and be willing “to implant agency talent within client teams.”
Winning without pitching
The traditional agency review and pitch process have long been out of control in terms of costs and value to agencies. For most agencies, in most cases, it's preferable to avoid the costs of pitching by leveraging a project into an opportunity for growth.

Jameson Fleming recently covered a series of notable wins by The Martin Agency in Adweek: Royal Caribbean, Santander, and LegalShield—all won without pitching. Between those wins and other new work for Google Creators and Hasbro brands, The Martin Agency has brought in about $20 million in new revenue outside of a full formal pitch.

How are they able to pull this off? First, The Martin Agency and its CEO, Kristen Cavallo, have enjoyed significant positive press and accolades based on recognition for their creative work and organizational culture. But what Fleming specifically calls out is their leadership’s ability to maintain relationships with past clients (both of The Martin Agency and from prior agency roles).

At the same time, he notes that they’ve been selective in the accounts they pitch. That’s an important point. Because had they not been as selective about pitches, The Martin Agency would have had fewer resources available to invest in developing and maintaining their prior relationships.

Could this approach work for you? Yes. Will it work as well for you as it did for The Martin Agency? Probably not, because you’re (most likely) not The Martin Agency. But you can find the right balance of new business strategies for your agency and ensure you are allocating enough resources to cultivate relationships effectively.


 
Let’s talk about creative effectiveness
At TDP, we’re gung-ho about creative effectiveness because it leads to the measurable results needed to win new business. There have been two noteworthy pieces of content recently on the topic. One explores whether awards juries are rewarding work in a way that furthers the disconnect between creativity and brand performance. There are a lot of layers to unpack in that discussion, and Gurjit Degun does so with skill.

For example, why is most creatively effective work misaligned with the work recognized by creative awards? And perhaps most importantly, how can we get back to valuing work that drives business impact, particularly as we enter an economically challenging year where clients will be focused on bottom-line impact? Read Degun’s coverage at Campaign UK to see what industry insiders say about it.

Second, the IPA published its Marketing Effectiveness Roadmap 2022. Their research "revalidated that having an effectiveness roadmap is a key component of creating a strong(er) marketing effectiveness culture." Specifically, the roadmap helps create a more balanced approach to value creation within brands and agencies.
“When a roadmap is present, brands are 41% more likely to believe that their organization balances the long and short term and 71% more likely to believe long term brand effects are crucial.” — IPA’s Marketing Effectiveness Roadmap 2022
 

Despite the potential benefits, 26% of brand respondents and 37% of agency respondents reported that their brand or agency still lacks an effectiveness roadmap.

The IPA also found that priority areas of improvement for agencies in the next 12 months include:

 	
Helping clients understand that the agency is a creator of value rather than a cost to brands


 	
Not allowing effectiveness to be siloed within planning, analytics or other departments


 	
Facing their biggest effectiveness challenge: the perceived lack of data sharing from and with agency clients (and clients’ other agencies)

 

TIP: Learn more about the real-world implications of creative effectiveness for marketers and their agencies (and see how it can be used to your advantage) from LIONS, WARC and the Effectiveness Partnership here.

We’re not nice 
There’s no point in mincing words. As layoffs continue across the advertising industry amid economic challenges, new data reveals the ad industry is also the worst at handling layoffs.

AdAge covered a recent study from employer review site JobSage which found the advertising and media industry is among the least compassionate when it comes to layoffs. JobSage surveyed 1,000 U.S. employees who had been laid off across 11 different industries.

Respondents were most likely to report poor treatment when being laid off from employers in advertising and media compared to other industries. 83% of workers laid off from advertising and media employers reported “callous treatment,” compared to an overall average of 65% of respondents who felt that way across industries.

Those laid off from advertising and media employers were less likely to be offered a severance package and more likely to receive no advance warning. In this group, nearly half reported they “did not feel cared for at all” when being informed of their layoff, compared to just 35% of respondents overall. Almost half of this group were laid off via phone calls, email, messaging apps, or virtual meetings (either group or individual). And 20% of them reported they never had the opportunity to ask questions or discuss their layoff.

It sounds like advertising has earned its title of “worst” at layoffs. The upside is there’s a lot of room for improvement. If you are committed to treating your people better, see this post from AdAge, which provides tips on respectfully conducting layoffs.

Speaking of treating people better…
Kimeko McCoy’s article about Mojo Supermarkets’ founder Mo Said in Digiday is worth a read simply because it’s a feel-good story about a talented creative succeeding for all the right reasons. But it also illuminates Mo’s experience as a Pakistani-bred creative who felt like he had to play a character, leaving his accent, his name, and his whole self at home just to blend into the predominantly white ad industry. He describes how it broke his personality and launched him into depression.

As the ad industry talks about commitment to employee well-being, DE&I, and talent retention, agency leaders should take Mo’s story to heart. Droga5 lost Said and his talents—but it could have happened to nearly any agency. The reasons why reinforce what we already know: adland must do better. Too much creative talent is lost to the industry because there isn't enough space for everyone to be successful and be themselves. Thankfully, Mo reclaimed himself and stuck around on his own terms.
Highlights from R3’s presentation to the 4A’s
Global consultancy R3 gave a presentation at the 4A’s National Committee Meeting for September. R3 advises brands on agency relationships and is a go-to data source for many respected industry publications (so consider this information both high-value and trustworthy). Here are just a few of the takeaways:

What’s driving agency reviews?

Agency reviews (while declining overall) are currently driven by a mix of factors, including a need to improve or build out with specialist agencies in areas like e-commerce and digital. Other motivating factors are client desire for greater control, better agency expertise, more alignment with ESG values, and cost concerns.

What are clients looking for from agency partners?

According to R3, what clients most want from agency partners now is collaboration, agile innovation, data capabilities, and applied DE&I.

Specifically, where DE&I is concerned, agencies need to be sure they are walking their talk across the board. That encompasses everything from talent diversity, training and employee well-being to supplier diversity programs, portrayal in communications and purpose-led marketing.

What’s the outlook for independents?

We will continue to see independent agencies working with big brands for reasons that include their ability to tap great creative talent virtually, the nature of project-based work, and the variety of agency relationships across individual brands. Additionally, independent agencies provide better access to leadership and senior-level creatives. More big brands have realized they prefer to work with the agency's A-team.

Here’s our take: Agencies of all sizes and types will continue to find new business opportunities—if they plan accordingly. By that, we mean not only getting fit for service across the elements and qualities clients are looking for but also having the flexibility to take on opportunities via projects and know how to grow them.

Projects are commonly pitted against retainers for comparison, but when we evaluate projects against agency reviews, they start to look a lot more favorable. Project work can be a money-generating and money-saving new business onramp for agencies.

That’s it for this week.

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                    [post_content] => Is your agency shortchanging itself with missed opportunities to leverage its creative output—and the business successes generated by its work?

In a perfect world, agencies would automatically enjoy shared rights to attribution and ownership of their work. They would be able to leverage their work products (and results) to build agency awareness, win new business and generate additional revenue.

Sadly, the world is NOT perfect (and getting further from it by the day).

In reality, agencies often struggle to have their name included on collaborative work and the right to share their work. They also struggle to access the data needed to understand the business impact of their work and make a strong case. All of which are necessary to demonstrate their capabilities and value.

It's peak irony that the same brands who make partnership decisions based on an agency's ability to show proof of results might turn around and deny their agency the right to show work.
“Agencies are inclined to speak through their work—it’s the language they use best. That’s why they scramble for exciting brands, brands people talk about and brands that will let them do great things. But what if you’re not allowed to say anything about that work—or even to say that you’re working for those brands at all?” — Jeff Sweat, founder, Sweat + Co. (in Adweek)
 
How do you value the ability to “own” your work?
When it comes to new business, nothing beats having relevant work to show and proof of results. Inability to show your work is a huge new business handicap that does financial harm by way of lost opportunities.

Think about it: If you won’t have the right to talk about your contributions and work products, or will not get access to internal data about the business impact of your work, or will not be able to share a case study on your website to generate future business, what are you getting in return for giving up those rights?

Should you upcharge to compensate when you are forced to give up those critical revenue-generating assets for your agency? If so, what is the price of future lost opportunities? How do you determine the cost of pouring resources into work that won’t help you grow? Should your agency think more carefully about whether it’s even worth taking on that work at all?
Missed opportunities
Earlier this year, Jeff Sweat wrote an article for Adweek about the ability to leverage agency work for PR purposes. At TDP, we focus on agency new business generation, so we see more missed opportunities around case studies. It’s an extension of the same issue.

As Sweat writes, “The work, and the buzz they get for it, is their product—it’s the currency agencies use to grow. If they can’t share it, they can’t attract new customers.” He couldn’t be more right. That's why agencies can't afford to cede control of the right to show work without a fight.
Why do so many agencies struggle to leverage their own work?
Here are some reasons why securing rights to show work is a common challenge for agencies:

 	
They don’t have it “on their radar”
 	
They mistakenly believe it should be tackled on the tail-end, rather than the front-end, of a client relationship
 	
They don’t want to rock the boat while vying to close a deal
 	
They are intimidated by the client-agency power differential in general and feel like they can’t afford to push back
 	
They lack strong negotiation skills
 	
They underestimate the importance of securing the right to show their work and results
 	
They may feel it's less relevant if they don’t have a PR team or know how to write a good case study
 	
They may have given up on trying to pursue the right to show their work after previous attempts were unsuccessful
 	
They are more focused on the immediate opportunity than future opportunities

 

Do any of these challenges sound familiar?
Let’s tackle these potential barriers
Firstly, negotiation skills can be learned, as can writing strong case studies.

Secondly, you (reader) should now know why the right to show work is too important for agencies to give up on. Share this post with someone who might need an extra nudge!

Thirdly, agency power is gained by the ability to demonstrate value. So the more you succumb to fear of standing up or pushing back in client negotiations, the longer you will be at a disadvantage.

Finally, let’s address when and how you should broach this discussion with your clients.
Securing the right to show your agency’s work and results
The best time to tackle this issue is at the start of a client relationship. Build it into your contract language. That way, you aren’t in the potentially awkward position of going back to ask for permission after the project ends.

Case Study Buddy suggests using what they call the “case study clause” in your contract as “an opportunity to cinch client buy-in and assuage fears.” You can do that, they continue, “by assuring them that no sensitive business data will be shared without their express permission and that they’ll have a chance to review and approve any case study.”

You can also facilitate the process by defining expectations for success early on. Can you agree on specific metrics to be met? That will make it easier for you to prove you’ve delivered value.

Consider using the right to show work as a bargaining chip if you encounter pushback. Where can you be compensated for the value you would miss out on without the right to show your work? And if you can’t get approval to publish a case study with the client’s name and logo on your website, is there a “next best” alternative that would be agreeable to both parties? Fallback plans will help prepare you to negotiate a favorable outcome.

Be ready to address the advantages for your client. For example:

 	
Well-written agency case studies add value for clients too, potentially drawing awareness to new initiatives, programs, team members, goals, purpose and results that otherwise may not have enjoyed the exposure.
 	
Strong agency case studies can create opportunities for client-agency collaboration via industry conferences and publications. These can reflect positively on the client's brand and team members as much as the agency.
 	
Letting agencies take credit for their work helps them attract the best caliber talent, directly impacting the quality of work received by agency clients.
 	
When clients allow agencies to enjoy shared credit for their work, it shows other agencies and vendors that they are good business partners.
 	
When it comes specifically to data-sharing and revealing business impact, clients enjoy better results when they are transparent with their agency partners. Sharing information can reveal opportunities for improvement while keeping them in the dark prevents optimization.

Done right, empowering agencies to share in the credit for their work and its results is truly a win-win for brands and agencies.

Check out resources like Case Study Buddy for more tips about how to secure client buy-in for case studies, such as:

 	
Understanding common fears and potential roadblocks so that you can alleviate them.
 	
Creating a defined process and timeline to make participation as easy as possible for clients.


Parting thoughts
Imagine if every agency came to the negotiation table with a right to show work clause written into their contracts. It would make it more difficult for clients to push back. By setting the expectation that it's an optional benefit bestowed at the client’s discretion, agencies have weakened their position. But that can shift with a more unified approach to its value and standards for the right to show work.

It’s time for agencies to stop missing out on something they need to build future success. If nothing else, the right to show work could be a welcome bargaining chip for agencies amid challenging economic conditions.

What’s been your experience with securing the right to show work? Care to share any stories or tips for other agencies

 
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                    [post_content] => Agencies are facing a perfect storm of conditions, including rising costs, declining new business opportunities, and clients asking them to (once again) do more with less—despite stretched budgets and resources.

Ironically, while many agencies feel pressured to reduce prices, they should raise them. The Drum has published accounts of agency leaders who have successfully navigated price increases with their clients, a reality the UK-based Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) recently said was “inevitable” due to inflation.

How can agency leaders stand their ground on pricing and turn a potential point of weakness into a strength for their agencies? To start, get creative about options, get strategic about approach, and get planning to set your agency up for success with pricing.
Here are five pricing considerations for agencies:
 
1. Reducing prices devalues your creativity, and raising them again will be difficult after agreeing to cuts.
If you must reduce fees, minimize scope accordingly. When you agree to do more for less, you devalue your agency just as if you'd reduced rates. Learn more about why and how you should avoid devaluing your agency at all costs.
2. Apparently, your clients want to get out of the billable hour business even more than you do.
And not just because they want to lower costs. It’s mostly because they want to increase efficiency—and the billable hour rewards the opposite. That’s according to Tim Williams at the Ignition Consulting Group, who cites studies by the Association of National Advertisers which show that most Fortune 1000 companies “want to change the way they pay their agencies.”

Williams also believes its agencies that cling most fervently to the billable-hour model, noting that the brand marketers he’s spoken to “express enormous frustration regarding their agencies' unwillingness or inability to step forward with more productive remuneration models.”
3. To stop a race to the bottom based on the lowest price, shift the conversation to value vs. costs from the start.
This is much easier to do if you have a track record of proven results. See what proven results look like.
4. Study tips from experts on pricing strategy, pricing psychology and negotiation to regain control and optimize your outcomes in client conversations.
The first place I’d start is with the Ignition Consulting Group’s Propulsion Blog, authored by Tim Williams. If you’re looking for help negotiating with procurement, Mike Lander at Piscari is another knowledgeable resource.
5. The key to regaining control in pricing conversations is understanding where you can add value for clients.
It requires knowing what questions to ask to learn about their goals and the perceived value of having (or not having) what your agency brings to the table. Find questions to help with pain and value identification here.

Two years ago, the IPA’s Marc Nohr (also chairman of Fold7) warned that agencies are "colluding in their own demise" if they don’t evolve their pricing strategies. As dire and dramatic as that sounds, there is some truth in it.

The current conditions have put agency pricing back on the front burner for many agencies. What is your group doing to evolve its pricing strategy and fortify itself against devaluation?

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            [post_content] => There were so many important things to discuss this week that we couldn't pick just one. Instead, we're trying something a little different, focusing on the top five things that moved us this week—and all are valuable for agency leaders to know.

Read on to explore what's new for in-housing, winning new business without pitching, creative effectiveness, treating people decently, and new business insights from global consultancy R3. As always, you'll find our insights layered in to address what it means for agencies.

In-housing fails
Over at The Drum, Sam Bradley covered a new small study on in-housing conducted by digital agency Collective. 150 chief marketing officers at companies with more than 250 employees participated. The study revealed that CMOs are disillusioned with in-housing.

33% of CMOs at mid-size companies (with 500 employees or less) say in-housing is an operational/managerial nightmare. Over 50% of CMOs at enterprise organizations (with 2,000 or more employees) agree it's a nightmare. And 39% of CMOS think in-house marketing teams lack inspiration.

Despite its limitations, the study delivered some satisfaction for many agencies who have been waiting for the pendulum to swing back in their direction. (Should you want to bask for a moment in the petty glory of marketers’ in-housing challenges, we won’t judge.)

But is in-housing going anywhere? Don’t count on it. Instead, expect an ongoing evolution of how in-house teams and agencies work together.

Need convincing? In a recent presentation to the 4A’s, global consultancy R3 suggested that agencies build “use case experience” from working with clients’ in-house teams and be willing “to implant agency talent within client teams.”
Winning without pitching
The traditional agency review and pitch process have long been out of control in terms of costs and value to agencies. For most agencies, in most cases, it's preferable to avoid the costs of pitching by leveraging a project into an opportunity for growth.

Jameson Fleming recently covered a series of notable wins by The Martin Agency in Adweek: Royal Caribbean, Santander, and LegalShield—all won without pitching. Between those wins and other new work for Google Creators and Hasbro brands, The Martin Agency has brought in about $20 million in new revenue outside of a full formal pitch.

How are they able to pull this off? First, The Martin Agency and its CEO, Kristen Cavallo, have enjoyed significant positive press and accolades based on recognition for their creative work and organizational culture. But what Fleming specifically calls out is their leadership’s ability to maintain relationships with past clients (both of The Martin Agency and from prior agency roles).

At the same time, he notes that they’ve been selective in the accounts they pitch. That’s an important point. Because had they not been as selective about pitches, The Martin Agency would have had fewer resources available to invest in developing and maintaining their prior relationships.

Could this approach work for you? Yes. Will it work as well for you as it did for The Martin Agency? Probably not, because you’re (most likely) not The Martin Agency. But you can find the right balance of new business strategies for your agency and ensure you are allocating enough resources to cultivate relationships effectively.


 
Let’s talk about creative effectiveness
At TDP, we’re gung-ho about creative effectiveness because it leads to the measurable results needed to win new business. There have been two noteworthy pieces of content recently on the topic. One explores whether awards juries are rewarding work in a way that furthers the disconnect between creativity and brand performance. There are a lot of layers to unpack in that discussion, and Gurjit Degun does so with skill.

For example, why is most creatively effective work misaligned with the work recognized by creative awards? And perhaps most importantly, how can we get back to valuing work that drives business impact, particularly as we enter an economically challenging year where clients will be focused on bottom-line impact? Read Degun’s coverage at Campaign UK to see what industry insiders say about it.

Second, the IPA published its Marketing Effectiveness Roadmap 2022. Their research "revalidated that having an effectiveness roadmap is a key component of creating a strong(er) marketing effectiveness culture." Specifically, the roadmap helps create a more balanced approach to value creation within brands and agencies.
“When a roadmap is present, brands are 41% more likely to believe that their organization balances the long and short term and 71% more likely to believe long term brand effects are crucial.” — IPA’s Marketing Effectiveness Roadmap 2022
 

Despite the potential benefits, 26% of brand respondents and 37% of agency respondents reported that their brand or agency still lacks an effectiveness roadmap.

The IPA also found that priority areas of improvement for agencies in the next 12 months include:

 	
Helping clients understand that the agency is a creator of value rather than a cost to brands


 	
Not allowing effectiveness to be siloed within planning, analytics or other departments


 	
Facing their biggest effectiveness challenge: the perceived lack of data sharing from and with agency clients (and clients’ other agencies)

 

TIP: Learn more about the real-world implications of creative effectiveness for marketers and their agencies (and see how it can be used to your advantage) from LIONS, WARC and the Effectiveness Partnership here.

We’re not nice 
There’s no point in mincing words. As layoffs continue across the advertising industry amid economic challenges, new data reveals the ad industry is also the worst at handling layoffs.

AdAge covered a recent study from employer review site JobSage which found the advertising and media industry is among the least compassionate when it comes to layoffs. JobSage surveyed 1,000 U.S. employees who had been laid off across 11 different industries.

Respondents were most likely to report poor treatment when being laid off from employers in advertising and media compared to other industries. 83% of workers laid off from advertising and media employers reported “callous treatment,” compared to an overall average of 65% of respondents who felt that way across industries.

Those laid off from advertising and media employers were less likely to be offered a severance package and more likely to receive no advance warning. In this group, nearly half reported they “did not feel cared for at all” when being informed of their layoff, compared to just 35% of respondents overall. Almost half of this group were laid off via phone calls, email, messaging apps, or virtual meetings (either group or individual). And 20% of them reported they never had the opportunity to ask questions or discuss their layoff.

It sounds like advertising has earned its title of “worst” at layoffs. The upside is there’s a lot of room for improvement. If you are committed to treating your people better, see this post from AdAge, which provides tips on respectfully conducting layoffs.

Speaking of treating people better…
Kimeko McCoy’s article about Mojo Supermarkets’ founder Mo Said in Digiday is worth a read simply because it’s a feel-good story about a talented creative succeeding for all the right reasons. But it also illuminates Mo’s experience as a Pakistani-bred creative who felt like he had to play a character, leaving his accent, his name, and his whole self at home just to blend into the predominantly white ad industry. He describes how it broke his personality and launched him into depression.

As the ad industry talks about commitment to employee well-being, DE&I, and talent retention, agency leaders should take Mo’s story to heart. Droga5 lost Said and his talents—but it could have happened to nearly any agency. The reasons why reinforce what we already know: adland must do better. Too much creative talent is lost to the industry because there isn't enough space for everyone to be successful and be themselves. Thankfully, Mo reclaimed himself and stuck around on his own terms.
Highlights from R3’s presentation to the 4A’s
Global consultancy R3 gave a presentation at the 4A’s National Committee Meeting for September. R3 advises brands on agency relationships and is a go-to data source for many respected industry publications (so consider this information both high-value and trustworthy). Here are just a few of the takeaways:

What’s driving agency reviews?

Agency reviews (while declining overall) are currently driven by a mix of factors, including a need to improve or build out with specialist agencies in areas like e-commerce and digital. Other motivating factors are client desire for greater control, better agency expertise, more alignment with ESG values, and cost concerns.

What are clients looking for from agency partners?

According to R3, what clients most want from agency partners now is collaboration, agile innovation, data capabilities, and applied DE&I.

Specifically, where DE&I is concerned, agencies need to be sure they are walking their talk across the board. That encompasses everything from talent diversity, training and employee well-being to supplier diversity programs, portrayal in communications and purpose-led marketing.

What’s the outlook for independents?

We will continue to see independent agencies working with big brands for reasons that include their ability to tap great creative talent virtually, the nature of project-based work, and the variety of agency relationships across individual brands. Additionally, independent agencies provide better access to leadership and senior-level creatives. More big brands have realized they prefer to work with the agency's A-team.

Here’s our take: Agencies of all sizes and types will continue to find new business opportunities—if they plan accordingly. By that, we mean not only getting fit for service across the elements and qualities clients are looking for but also having the flexibility to take on opportunities via projects and know how to grow them.

Projects are commonly pitted against retainers for comparison, but when we evaluate projects against agency reviews, they start to look a lot more favorable. Project work can be a money-generating and money-saving new business onramp for agencies.

That’s it for this week.

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