ANA Study On Client-Agency Relations.

The Association of National Advertisers (ANA) today released a benchmark study on client-agency relations. The 360-degree research – which included both clients and agencies – is designed to help both parties understand best practices that make their “marriage” work. The findings were released at today’s ANA Agency Relations Forum at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York.

“This study will help our members and their valued agency partners gain a clearer understanding of what makes a good relationship tick. By identifying the best practices each side takes to strengthen their affiliation, the study findings and analysis can enhance how both parties can do business together,” said Bob Liodice, President and CEO of the ANA.

The survey of more than 100 major advertisers revealed that:

Advertisers want agencies that are responsive (95%) and provide outstanding service (95%). This is consistent regardless of type of industry or size of company.

The top three attributes advertisers want from their agencies are effective campaigns (56%), outstanding ideas and implementation (40%), and strategic counsel and insights (35%).

Most advertisers are very or somewhat satisfied with their agencies’ ability to meet these needs. They were most satisfied with their agencies’ ability to have a team that understands the client’s business (91%), develop solutions/work quickly (90%) and being able to develop effective campaigns (87%).

The top issue that advertisers feel affects client-agency relationships are disconnects from strategy to creative (24%), work that is not always on strategy (23%), high production costs (22%) and agencies taking too long/making too many reworks (21%). Finally, 17% of clients said no issues exist. Only 15% of the respondents said that creative arrogance was an issue for the agencies they work with.

Only 26% advertisers surveyed had a “serious” problem with an agency in the past three years. When a problem occurred, 35% of clients changed agency staff and another 20% reduced the work with the problem agency and added another agency. When there was a serious problem, 44% of clients said their agencies were able to fix the problem once they were put on notice.
The ANA also interviewed more than 100 agency professionals on the subject.

The study found that:

The top three things agencies want from clients is respect/trust (57%), followed by fair payment (41%) and communications (including criticism) at 39%.

Agencies feel that team (86%) and periodic management (85%) meetings between client and agency are pivotal to having a good working relationship. This was followed by defining clear expectations (65%) and participating in two-way evaluations (50%).

The most common action agencies take to resolve issues they caused was to bring in the agency’s senior management. Other steps included changing their own process (82%) or team (82%). Fewer agencies would involve the client in any agency hiring/appointment decisions for their business (38%).

ß When resolving issues caused by the client, agencies again prefer to use senior agency management (84%) as the solution. Agencies have also been more candid (71%) with how client issues were assessed, provided better explanations of agency processes (71%), along with better explanation of their costs (67%), sharing best practices from other clients (59%) and how to create better creative briefs (51%).

For more information at http://www.ana.net