Why does it feel so wrong to say the client is not always right? Take a job in advertising, and if you don’t learn this fact by the end of your first month, you are probably too much of a people pleaser and you should move on to another career. I’m not trying to be caustic, it really would be for your own good.
When it comes to their business objectives and goals, the client is most definitely right – except for when they’re not right there either, and in those cases Darwin’s Law seems to work things out. The role of a marketer is to help the client achieve their goals through strategic creative executions. (As I typed that last line, In my head I could hear John Cleese reading it aloud with his mocking tone, chastising me for falling into MBA speak.)
The job of a commercial persuader is not all cocktails and coloring books. This is a legitimate profession. Everyday we struggle with the science of behavioral economics, and the talent of charming an elusive muse to delight us with creative inspiration. Research and analysis. Immersion and transmediation. Each campaign – each message – is a hard-fought journey.
Thankfully, people pay us for our unique ability to influence others, and it is because of that fact that the client is not always right. When a client chooses to partner with an advertising agency, the de facto agreement is this: “We trust that you know more about the craft of commercial persuasion than we do. We would like to pay you to help us.” Simple enough. The client trusts the agency to do good work, and in exchange, the client’s business will reap the benefits of strong results.
But what happens all too often is a shift from a simple results-based relationship to a new, more complex relationship mired in politics and ego gratification. The work loses its place of value in favor of maintaining the client/agency relationship. It may seem like the right thing to do, making the client happy, but in the end everyone involved will be dissatisfied and disappointed.
Back in the summer of 2005, Dan Wieden of W+K took on this beast in a speech to his team as they reset the course of their business:
In big agencies, the client/agency relationship is the most sacred thing. The difficulty seems to be that the work then serves the relationship, and everything becomes political. And when things get political, the work suffers. And when the work suffers, the business suffers, then the client agency relationship suffers, and you suffer. In creative boutiques, the ego is supreme. The work is there to enhance personal reputations. If I said the work is wonderful, the work is wonderful. Shut up and sell it. Problem here: again, the work slip is, the client agency relationship goes south. When we say the work comes first, we are saying that things work best when everyone – client and agency alike – are focussed on whether or not this is great damn work. Politics aside. Egos aside. Is this hot shit, or not? …
… And when we say the client/agency relationship is second to the work, that doesn’t mean it isn’t important. Because the work is a direct reflection of the quality of that relationship. If it is strained, the work shows it. If people are having fun, it shows. If people are bleeding, it shows. If people are just trying to turn other people on, it shows. And that’s when it’s most effective.
The irony of it all is that the work is what wins the client’s business in the first place. The message from Wieden to his tribe should be championed by all commercial persuaders. Serve the client with good work and naturally the relationship will thrive.
(nod to AdPulp for granting me clarity long ago)
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So, now comes the question, how do we fix this? Do I relish driving by a billboard and see my own words staring back at me? Absolutely. It makes me smile every time. But what makes me more happy/excited is seeing something effective. Something that makes me laugh or think or simply engages me – whether I wrote it or not. Sometimes, the client becomes enamored in their own thoughts. And that desire to see their own words/designs/thought splayed out before the public is so strong that they don’t see the big picture. That we have a plan for them. But, as they are the client, and therefore paying the bills, they tend to get their way. We can’t really say, ‘No,’ put our foot down and declare that our way is best and that they must also pay for something that they ultimately don’t want/support.
So how do we correct the imbalance? Sometimes I am told, ‘Give them what they want, but lets show them something better.’ And then hope that they have the understanding [as well as the ability to overcome ego] and say, ‘You are right, your way is better.’ But that doesn’t always happen.
I wish I new the answer to changing their mind(s)… when they choose their ridiculous ideas over a group of people hired to think for them. We only want what’s best for them! Oh… this is just giving me a headache thinking about it. It’s definitely the worst part of being in this biz…. and somewhat depressing when they don’t recognize great ideas!
As in most aspects of life, it really is all about finding a balance. Finding the ability to to support both “the work” and “the relationship.” Considering nothing is perfect, no matter what steps you take to find this balance, there will be some clients that are still going to go off the deep end.
In my opinion, the best thing to do is use the established relationship to foster the work. By entering into an agreement with you in the first place, the client has already put their trust in you to provide “commercial persuasion” at the best of your ability. It is now your responsibility to foster that trust in the relationship. By simply going along with a client to make them happy, you are not doing them any favors. You are basically betraying that trust.
You have to remember, you are in the persuasion business. Use the skills that got you to this point, to help you overcome holdups from these types of clients. Empathize with the client on different levels, listen and tailor responses that will allow the client to see how your ideas really help them. Use the trust and honesty in the relationship to let them know when their ideas may not accomplish the intended goals they were hoping for. It is your job to show results, if they take the job out of your hands, you can’t be help responsible for having the desired outcome. Show confidence in “the work” part of your job. Past achievements and success stories do the talking. I’m not saying to be arrogant though, that is completely different from confidence.
The premise is true but I must say that the agency is not always right either. I will have to work up a rebuttal from the client prospective.
I’m struggling with this right now. My “clients” are my higher-ups at my job. They’re oh so very wrong on so many levels sometimes. It kills me, and I definitely can’t produce my best results when I’m obsessing over how idiotic they are.
On the other hand, due to limited resources, I can’t produce everything on my own. So I have to hire an agency to help me with some creation tasks. I’m also a client. I hired them because, just as you pointed out, they were smarter and better than me. But I have my doubts about that from time to time.
What I see happening over time is this: the agency has some initial successes and gets praise from the clients, and they start thinking they’re smarter than they really are. At the same time, the client’s spending more time with the smart folks at the agency. They’re learning a thing or two about what we do, and they start thinking they could do it better. They’re thinking they’re smarter than they really are, too.
Let the pissing match begin. No one wins until someone starts being brutally honest about their own shortcomings.
The client isn’t always right nor is the agency. Missing from this is a simple truth any competent, sane, and ethical attorney will tell you. If you and your client aren’t on the same page and the client isn’t listening, you either document the disagreement and do what the person paying the bills thinks they have hired you to do or you fire your client.
If you aren’t prepared to give up the client then saying the client isn’t always right is nothing but insider griping that will make you resent the client and likely adopt an unproductive passive aggressive attitude where you become ven more convinced the client is a senseless idiot.
This discussion is fantastic. Thank you all for adding so much.
One thing that we can all agree on is this: I am not as lucid at 1:00am (the time that I posted this) as I thought.
In no way did I intend to say that the client is never right. In my experience clients frequently propose brilliant ideas. Nor did I mean to say that agencies produce solid gold all of the time. You would mock me should I list my disastrous concepts.
The heart of the matter is that when an agency places a higher value on pleasing personalities rather than producing good work, neither value is truly achieved. As @Arkstfan points out, sometimes it is better to end a relationship than it is to continue a mediocre and passive aggresively hostile relationship.
Zack you offer sage advice well beyond your years.
Just Me, never accept an agency’s direction without asking them for the rationale and research to support why they are choosing to venture down a path with your message (and money) in their hands. Sadly, we can rest on past laurels.
Kelli and vanessa, on the creative side of this issue it can be a huge letdown. You are at the mercy of the relationship owner, the account executive. This issue, more than any other, separates the good AEs from the great ones.
Okay, as a marketing manager for a company without a marketing department or advertising department I must use an agency. That’s not a problem for me. I have worked with the agency of record long enough to have managed our relationship to where it works for us. As the marketer, I provide the direction plus I know the product better than the agency ever could. I rely on the agency to help with creative design and making ad buys. I often “finesse” the creative so that it fits with the message I’m trying to convey. This has helped us to create what I feel is strong branding.
Along these lines, We also use different agencies with different strengths. Our ad agency doesn’t handle our Web site. My job is to bring (excuse this term please) synergy between the two agencies. On top of that, myself and my public relations officer handle most copy writing and creative ideas for radio and television.
I could see how a client without any in-house marketing staff would need to trust the ad agency to do all of it but it is up to the ad agency to sell direction and creative to the client at all times, not just to get the account.
I spent over 20 years as a salesperson on the front lines. I always taught new salespeople that the most important thing to do with a customer first was to ask questions because you don’t know where they are coming from. Once you have done that you make suggestions and make sure you are filling the need they have. Without knowing and fully understanding the needs of the customer/client you have not earned the right tell them what they need.
I just ran into this and as a small start up agency I need all the work I can get. It kept me awake at night. Do I agree with the client and get the job, or stand my ground and chance loosing the client. I decided to stand my ground. The key is honest communication. I tell my clients my goal is to make them more money so they can pay me more money. Have I had to give in to a client’s bad call, yes. Sometimes you have to pick your battles. Sometimes you have to let the client ideas fail. I have done that on many occasions where I advise a client not to make a certain decision and they do it anyway. About 80% of the time the client comes back telling me they should have listen to me. As an agency I want my clients to feel like we are a team working for the same goal of success. You wouldn’t hire a personal trainer that gave up on you every time you wanted to quit would you? So be confident and remember “Be honest, but be nice”.
I’m just some schlep who works on some of these accounts in question. Here’s my perspective as to client/agency relations.
Silence means assent.
As proxy representatives for our clients, it is our duty to speak up when we feel that the client is making, or about to make, a mistake. Technically or strategically. That is all we can do. After all, the client is the client. But we would be doing ourselves, as creatives and stewards of a brand, a disservice if we didn’t speak up. We wouldn’t be worth our salt if we didn’t voice our reasonable dissent if we felt that the client was off the mark.
(Did I include reasonable in there? Yes. I did. When I say reasonable, I mean, “using reason.”)
We’re more than stewards of a brand, though. Many agencies forget this. The word “brand” is thrown about so casually it has become cliched. We are stewards of our clients quantifiable goals. Money. Shekels. Guilders. That kills me a little bit inside to even type it, but unfortunately it’s true. It’s a fallen world we live in and it powers itself on money and the tracking of it.
As agencies (or members of agencies), we walk a very strange path; we’re intimately related to the client, in this case, Arkansas Parks and Tourism, but we’re also consumers. It’s important that we remain grounded in both of those realities. It’s easy to be lured by dreams of creative potential, awards, portfolio bling, but in the end, the primary goal is hard, quantifiable stats. Are there more tourists this year than last? Is there more money in the state tax coffers? How many web impressions? How many reservations made through website?
BTW, the following quote is convoluted and makes absolutely no sense whatsoever other than to highlight a portfolio-centric view of advertising. I mean, what does “hot shit” mean? This is a speech for creatives to creatives. We’ve got to be more than that.
Wow, what a great discussion. This is a huge struggle and I don’t have a ton of agency experience, yet, so most of what I’ll say will come from an idealist standpoint. I think there’s a ton of things going on here and part of it is the culture that has been created where anyone can be a designer, developer, PR person, whatever they want to be. Oh you need a website? Well just head over to moonfruit or just about any other site. Pick out a template, tweak a few colors, add a few images and you’re good to go. For what it’s worth you now have an effective website that will function well, look nice and probably garner some recognition for your brand. Need a logo? Go to one of the hundreds of sites who’ll give you a decent looking piece of art for $200. It’s that easy. Why should the client deal with a big agency who thinks they know what they’re doing when they can get it for so much cheaper elsewhere?
I think this is partially on the agency and partially on our culture. If we stop lip-servicing the clients and give them work that’s absolutely incredible then things could be better off. Our culture suggests that you can do it yourself, you don’t need an agency but I think that’s part our fault for NOT doing excellent work. Let’s just step our game up, listen to the clients, present good reasoning (serious, solid reasoning) and maybe we can reverse this and be putting out killer work with happy clients who trust us b/c we’re not just throwing out generic solutions. I know there’s a delicate balance in there as many of you said and remember I’m writing mostly from an idealist standpoint cos I’ve only been doing this for a few years (professionally).
Don, I happen to think that do-it-yourself advertising and marketing tools, like do-it-yourself lawyerin’ tools are wonderful.
There are potential clients that those tools will meet their needs just fine. If their needs are met with one-size kits, then the money saved is money they can use for something else in their travels around the sun and honestly how much do you feel comfortable billing someone who has very simple, basic, unchallenging needs?
There are also potential clients who are going to be a magnificent pain who think they are buying a finished product when most of their fee is for your time, experience, and skill. They are going to complain about your fees and complain about the finished product. Let them complain to the kit sellers call center in India or post a bad review about the kit seller on some obscure web site. You’ve gained more than you would have earned in fees by them being someone else’s problem.
Arkstfan, you’re right, sometimes those solutions are better for clients. I think that’s partially our responsibility to let them know that. The best way for me to compare this is with food, because I’m constantly hungry.
With food the climate has become get whatever you can for the cheapest you can which often means buying goods that aren’t as nutritious, healthful and overall better for you. When you pay for crap you get crap. Hopefully when you pay big bucks you get something good from it. I know that’s not always the case but that’s how it should be. If a client can’t afford the specialized services we offer then I believe we should at least give them advice on how to best utilize the free (or budget fitting) services. That’s one way to build a good client relationship, without losing money and creating a potential for more business once the client has gained some ground. Much of my thoughts on this come back to specialization of fields. You certainly wouldn’t want me giving out law advice and I’d prefer someone who has no training or specialization in design to not be handing out that advice.
Also, in reference to the DIY style of marketing the point I didn’t coherently get across is that with this technology and access to information clients can often come to an agency and feel they know just as much or more than the agency (in some cases they do). However, it gets incredibly cluttered and cumbersome when you get all of those cooks in the kitchen. I’d push for specialization and understanding of that to aid in client/agency relations. It’s 2 way relationship of education and acceptance.
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