TWO FREE REPORTS ON THE BRAND AGENCY DISCONNECT

by on 27 January, 2009 - 12:11

By: Alain ThysAt best, the relationship between most brands and their communication agencies is "strained". While exceptional agencies and executives exist (some of which writing for this blog), the industry as a whole tends to disappoint its customers. This needs to change. After all, while thousands of agency executives are gearing up for another dance on the Titanic in Cannes, clients are seeing billions go to waste. Especially in our current climate, this is unacceptable.

But rather than join the choir of complaints, we decided to do something about it. We want to initiate a global conversation on the renaissance of marketing as a whole (coming soon :-) and in specific on the ways brands and agencies interact. We have bundled our thoughts in two reports we'd like to share with you (thanks to Management Centre Europe for the kind sponsorship !). They analyse the disconnect that currently exists between brands and the agencies that service them.

• In Reconsidering the Advertising Industry we take the agency perspective, and compare the internal workings of agencies to what their clients need. We then offer tactical suggestions and structural recommendations that allow agency executives to better equip their organisation for a challenging future.
• In Bridging the Brand-Agency Divide we look at the same data from a brand perspective. We review what brands are looking for and what they feel agencies are not delivering. For each disconnect we offer suggestions and tips brand leaders can apply to get their agencies to better deliver what they need.

Both reports, as well as a bonus slideshow are available as a free and instant download on our free publications page. They're yours to read, use and abuse (cc 2.0 :-). The only thing we would request is that if you find them of value, you engage in the conversation. This can simply be done by forwarding them to others. Or if you're more digitally active, blogging, twittering or commenting on them. If you have a client-agency relationship which defies all we have written, share it. If you have ways to make our recommendations better, build on them. If you believe we've got it all wrong, write a counter-thesis.  We want to start the debate, so at some point we can all come to conclusions. This is our first - of many - steps. What is yours?