The cover story of Marketing News is called "Proving Ground: Greater need for ROI calls agencies' role into question."
Fascinating statistic in it:
- A recent study by the CMO Council showed that half of public relations and advertising firms' clients likely would switch agencies this year;
- 54% of 350 marketers surveyed plan to drop one of their agencies this year.
- Meanwhile, PR firms experienced the largest turnover among all types of marketing agencies in 2006, with more than 35% of marketers replacing their PR agencies last year.
So whose fault is it?
- Are agencies only interested in creating funny nonsense, so they've lost focus on the bottom line?
- Or have clients started to treat their agencies like hourly vendors, and then wondered why they're not as connected as they were when they were treated (and paid) like partners?
- Are agencies focused on their own bottom line more than their clients' bottom line?
- Or do clients fail to disclose, stick to (or even have) a clear strategy and measurement plan, leaving them to judge executions based on personal preference
UPDATE: First article is up: "What Makes a Good Advertising Client."
As always, I welcome your comments.
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