Clients Like Firing Their Current Advertising Agency, Latest Report Reveals

Cincinnati, OH – November 28, 2007 – The client perspective on advertising, public relations, and graphics agencies continues to be less than rosy, according to the annual agency new business survey commissioned by agency lead generation and sales firm Reardon Smith Whittaker. The outsourced lead generator, based in brand hot spot Cincinnati, Ohio, says it appears agencies didn’t apply their knowledge from the 2006 report, as nearly 50 percent of client/agency relationships continue to last less than two years.

Similar to the 2006 RSW report, the top four reasons given by clients for reviewing involve issues that are in the power of agencies to control and prevent: bad creative, weak strategic thinking and a general lack of proactivity or fresh ideas. Agency personnel changes were also high on the list.

And increasingly, while clients are willing to name agencies of record, 82 percent outsource other marketing functions to a number of different agencies. So being the AOR, doesn’t mean recording all the business – which actually opens up a great “in” opportunity for aggressive agencies, according to RSW managing director Mark Sneider.

Comprehensive results and analysis from the survey can be found at www.rswus.com.

“Clients aren’t afraid to make changes. in fact, many seem to enjoy it as more than 40 percent of respondents said they are either ‘look forward to it’ or ‘find it exciting’ when looking for a new agency,” Sneider says. “When reviewing, 68 percent of clients saw four or more agencies, so if the prospect is aware of your agency, you might have a shot to get on the preliminary review list.

As a result, maintaining a consistent outreach among prospects is key to building a successful new business development program,” Sneider added. “Of the factors influencing clients to meet with an agency, a timely approach by the agency was the number one reason clients chose the agency. The problem remains, however, that most agencies do not have the focus to create and maintain a consistent new business development program. You want to win new and better clients – it comes down to right place, right time, and most agencies simply are not able to do that.”

Among the “new wave” of growing or emerging marketing communications disciplines, experiential marketing was listed as by far the most interesting to clients, followed by internet marketing, then by discipline of buzz or word-of-mouth marketing.

The 2007 New Business Report: A Client’s Perspective was completed by 140 key marketing decision makers from across the United States during November 2007. This study was commissioned by Reardon Smith Whittaker. The sample came from a database of decision makers each with marketing budgets estimated to be in excess of $2M per year. Some of the larger companies represented included: Citibank, General Mills, Hoovers, Abbott, IBM, Alberto, Bell South, Heinz, Bayer, Dunkin Donuts, GE, Lego, Rubbermaid, and ESPN, among many others.

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Reardon Smith Whittaker is a lead generation and agency branding consultancy that operates like a virtual new business development group to help agencies build pipelines of qualified new business opportunities and more effectively position themselves in the marketplace. More information can be accessed at www.rswus.com or by calling 513.898.0940. Sneider can be contacted at mark@rswus.com.

Media Contact: Rodger Roeser, APR
Eisen Management Group
rroeser@eisenmanagementgroup.com
859.586.4302