Saturday, March 30, 2013

Communication is Key- Improving Client-Agency Relationships

Imagine you?re? clicking through the internet, stopped dead in your tracks when you come across hundreds of blogs and articles filled with comment after comment about a disturbing ad with your company?s branding all over it. An ad that you?ve never seen before, that you knew nothing about.

Sounds impossible, doesn?t it? Well just this week it happened to Ford. Employees out of JWT?s affiliate offices in India, whom Ford had contracted to do some of their ad work, created several unauthorized ads entirely on their own initiative. The same individuals uploaded the work to Ads of the World, to show off their work. They even went so far as to submit the mockups to India?s top ad awards program.

This brings up a major concern that a lot of companies have when working with an outside agency. How do you ensure the agency you are working with avoids serious mistakes that can severely impact your image? Open and frequent communication is key.

The following are ways to ensure your standards are being met when working with an outside agency:

  1. Document your requirements- without a solid foundation it?s easy for both the business and agency to get off track and lose sight of the end goal
  2. Create a review and signoff process- and communicate regularly, even if there are delays
  3. Don?t be afraid to be strict about how agency employees are using your branding- remind them that they are responsible for your company?s big asset- your image

Instead of thinking of your agency as an outside vendor, treat them as a partner, stay in the loop and you?ll likely avoid any major fiascos like Ford did this week.

You can read more about Ford?s advertising crisis here: Ford?s PR team worked all weekend on ad crisis.

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