This week, I've interviewed Ondina Chiru of Vodafone Romania for the Friday series on agency/client relationships. She thinks that it's the agency's responsibility to keep a good agency/client relationship. Do you agree?
Q1 Name
Ondina Chiru
Q2 Location
Bucharest, Romania
Q3 Website
Q4 Do you work on the agency side or client side?
Client side
Q5 What makes a good agency/client relationship?
A pitch proposal makes a good start – the agency simply falls in love with their client. The beginnings of the relationship are marked by love and hate – excellent creativity, tight deadlines, the inevitable spelling mistake that had to be solved while printing... then slowly accommodating with each other, the relationship evolves into a dangerously "agreement phase". The client understands that constant work under pressure cannot guarantee the best creativity, the agency starts to measure proposals in ROI and other indicators... to keep a good relationship it's mostly on the agency side - and I'm saying it from a client position – there will always be deadlines, and budgets, and sales objectives, and indicators... The agency needs to find the right balance between creativity and fresh ideas, and the requirements of the other party. On client's side, all that it needs is a common sense, open minded and decision ready marketeer.
Q6 What’s your best tip for building a good agency/client relationship?
If you're the client - don't conclude long term contracts - the shorter the contract the higher the creative input; if you're the agency - there is always a way to make your proposals happen.
Q7 What do you wish agencies understood about clients?
The agency is commonly exposed only to the bright side of the company - people who understand their thinking and can talk the common language. They should start learning the other languages a company uses - in order to build the best alliances with their counterparts at the client, to sell their proposals.
Q8 How can agencies add value for clients?
A good agency is a source of wealth for the client. They can keep you informed on what the competition does, on where the market goes, what are the trends on different other markets and if they have access to information, they can be of real help in seeing things from a different perspective, sometimes, a client perspective even.
Q9 How can clients get the best out of their agencies?
Involve them - let them think, ask them to think for you, when they got it wrong let them go back and re-think, when they got it right - ask them to re-think again. and when you, the client, have "the big idea", still ask them to think of their own.
Q10 Have you noticed any recent trends in agency/client relationships?
The most recent trend, since the beginning of 2009, is that an agency is supposed "to please" the client. I personally, would prefer an agency that is annoyingly challenging ideas so that the best outcome may result.
Related Posts:
Adversarial Agency/Client Relationships
Partnership Agency/Client Relationships
Confused Agency/Client Relationships
Integrated Agency/Client Relationships
Imbalanced Agency/Client Relationships
