Ad Agency

Client Heads endure the daily combat of client-agency relationships. They get no glory for their efforts or sacrifices. They suffer the consequences of scope of work increases, fee reductions, inadequate resources and relationship threats. They hold the line and try to keep things from getting worse. They're on their own. This is not right -- agency transformations depend on Client Head successes in battle. Client Heads are receiving inadequate support from their leaders.

SoDA conducted three tracking studies in 2020 to better understand how agencies were navigating the disruption, areas of operational readiness, financial performance for the year, and the initial outlook for 2021.

The past year has hastened the evolution of the agency new business landscape. As larger pieces of business disintegrate into smaller opportunities and more projects are undertaken with speed, the path to new business has changed.  Competitive reviews don’t make sense for smaller projects. Decisions for smaller projects are typically made faster. There is increasing diversity in the way agency prospects make new business decisions. That is reason enough for agencies to revisit their buyer journeys — and specifically, how their websites support the modern B2B buying experience. But it's certainly not the only one.  By Mark Duval / The Duval Partnership

I've always found extremes uncomfortable. Back in the day, when everything in advertising agencies bent to the latest whims of the creatives, us media guys chuntered on.  By Brian Jacobs - The Cog

Global creative agencies are among the most decentralized business organizations in the world. Office heads and the client heads within their offices have complete independence in the way they manage their operations. Client heads are virtually unsupervised -- no one above them knows what work they are leading and whether or not fees and resources are appropriate for the work. C-suite executives focus more on the hunt for new business than on the management of their fragmented organizations. This makes agency transformations particularly tricky.

Ingrid Otero-Smart, President/CEO of Casanova//McCann, announced the promotion of Ms. Carla Noriega to Vice President, Group Account Director effective immediately.