Brand, Brand Or Brand?

Clients and agencies often use the term “brand” and it can mean different things to different parties. When seeking an agency to help with branding, please be very specific about your desired outcome before spending too much time during the evaluation period. Let’s explain the potential range of the word brand.

In some cases, clients use the term brand interchangeably with tactical media efforts (such as a logo, or corporate identity). The agency evaluates the expression of the company by nomenclature and visual dialogue. Some agencies call these visual assets “brand signals”, and not necessarily defining a brand as a company. Branding may also have a more strategic implication such as defining the promise of the company to its employees and customers via the company’s experiences, operations and product development. This requires a deft approach of identifying the past equity or desired promise, measured against consumer needs and wants.

Developing a logo can be most challenging, as many clients and internal influences have strong opinions when developing a new name and expressing it through colors and typography. Others recognize that this icon can be a game changer among their competitive set. Having an agency think and explore all options is the smartest way to get the best work – of course, the client needs to provide clear direction from all decision makers, to avoid any miscues during the creative process. Some of the best iconic brands, such as FED EX, took more than just a few weeks to develop its logo. Especially since 12 people from FED EX were part of the decision-making process. By the way, only the CEO, Mr. Fred Smith, saw the infamous hidden arrow when the logo was presented. You can read this article for the whole story.

It is a rigorous process designed to explore all options, and the client has to be bold enough to allow creativity to flourish. Think about this as you hire a firm to do your next identity assignment.

Marketing Matchup can help you find the right marketing firm for your needs. You can search by agency size, location, industry experience, marketing services provided and past creative work. If you have a marketing project in mind, sign up for a free client membership and post your project to be automatically matched with the right agencies.

Already working on a marketing project or a campaign? We have compiled a set of marketing tools that can help both clients and agencies plan and execute your next marketing project or campaign.

Why Do A SWOT Analysis?

A SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity & Threats) is a useful analysis that helps companies develop effective strategic planning for both online and offline. This exercise takes into account not only your own business, but your competitors and the current business environment. Completing a SWOT analysis every 6 months can help identify ways to maximizing your strengths, minimize weaknesses/threats and uncover new opportunities.

To develop a comprehensive SWOT analysis, organize a brainstorming session with key executive members of your company. The agency facilitates the discussion based on the four categories outlined below.

STRENGTHS
What does your company do well?
What makes you stand out from your competitors?
What advantages do you have over other businesses?

WEAKNESSES
List the areas that are a struggle. What do your customers complain about?
What are the unmet needs of your sales force?

OPPORTUNITIES
Where are your strengths not being fully utilized? Are there emerging trends that fit with your company's strengths? Is there a product/service area that you could do well in but are not yet competing?

Take a closer look at the business environment. (E.G. a customer segment is becoming more predominant, but their specific needs are not being fully met by your competitors.) Often, opportunities arise as a result of a changing business environment.

THREATS
Look both inside and outside of your company for things that could damage your business. Internally, do you have financial, development, or other problems? Externally, are your competitors becoming stronger, are there emerging trends that amplify one of your weaknesses, or do you see other threats to your company's success?

Advanced SWOT
The agency can help conduct a more in-depth SWOT analysis to help clients understand their company's competitive situation. The agency can enhance a SWOT analysis through research surveys to learn more about perceptions of the client’s business, products and competitors.

Research areas can include:
1) Customer awareness, interest, trial, and usage levels
2) Brand, site, and/or company image
3) Importance of different site or product attributes to your customers
4) Product and/or site performance.

Marketing Matchup can help you find the right marketing firm for your needs. You can search by agency size, location, industry experience, marketing services provided and past creative work. If you have a marketing project in mind, sign up for a free client membership and post your project to be automatically matched with the right agencies.

Already working on a marketing project or a campaign? We have compiled a set of marketing tools that can help both clients and agencies plan and execute your next marketing project or campaign.

Retainer Vs. Project-Based Compensation

Agencies tend to be far more flexible with their fee structures, especially in laggard economic cycles. They have an overhead of staff that needs to remain billable at a decent percentage. Usually that percentage is around 65-95% depending on the overhead fixed costs component. This gives the upper hand to a client in attracting the attention of a larger shop. However, this is a short term solution. As the marketing economy starts to improve, agencies will “trade–up” and look for more established, long-term, budgets to help manage their visibility. And who can blame them?

Clients like project-to-project relationships because it gives them leverage of budget control, and the option to end a relationship if performance is poor. The process of firing a retained agency is obsolete and messy. Agencies and clients should be frank about engaging under this model, as it is important to agree on the key performance indicators (or KPIs) before engaging in the project. Having a shared understanding of the KPIs helps remove subjectivity regarding the performance of the agency, or the outcome of the marketing effort.

Marketers often struggle to establish a process and methodology for managing communications. Working on a project basis with an agency or PR firm is not likely to solve this problem.

According to Forrester Research Project-to-project relationships can have an upside from an agency perspective. Besides covering off some COGS (agency cost of goods sold), they can actually grow into accounts while reducing overhead.

These relationships can typically result in:

- Shorter sales cycle
- Higher profit margins
- Speed to ideas in market
- Ability to prove their value, every day
- Permission to grow into the business
- Ability to enter into otherwise crowded markets
- Establish name brand accounts on roster

The issue for marketing agencies is their ability to find these projects. Project outsourcing will increase in a recession, but if the agency isn’t poised to get its foot in the door, it may find itself chasing “bad” projects – unprofitable, not focused in areas of its expertise, and working with brands that are not healthy, etc.

Please let’s not forget that getting paid is just the fiscal transaction between the two parties and shouldn’t be confused with a “relationship” between an agency and a client. That is earned over time by delivering the goods and great work.

Marketing Matchup can help you find the right marketing firm for your needs. You can search by agency size, location, industry experience, marketing services provided and past creative work. If you have a marketing project in mind, sign up for a free client membership and post your project to be automatically matched with the right agencies.

Already working on a marketing project or a campaign? We have compiled a set of marketing tools that can help both clients and agencies plan and execute your next marketing project or campaign.

The Infamous “Bait and Switch.”

“Bait and Switch” is an old term, used by both agencies and clients, for people that show up to the new business meeting and somehow fade into the distance once the assignment is awarded. Let’s face it. Every client wants to feel important on the agency roster. The agency wants the same respect in return. Asking the agency during the review process to review the team that will be working on the account is a fair question.

Please take into consideration that an agency is a business too, so the owner/principal/CEO also has to conduct normal business management, vision, training, recruitment, forecasting, board management, etc. It is important that he/she be involved in the new business part of the process, but please do not think that they are going run your account unless they are a really small shop where time can be devoted to such activities. Small, in our definition, is about 10 people or less. If the principal spends all his or her time running accounts, one would have to ask if the company would ever grow given the outlined model.

Agencies would also ask that your CEO be involved too. Is your principle going to be involved in the decision making process of the agency review?

A growing agency CEO should be allocating about 30% of his time to accounts. Factor how many accounts are in his or her shop. You may be surprised to learn that he/she may only allocate 1-2% of total time to your account. But that 1% may be critical to ensuring that the team is focused, motivated and provide that nugget of insight to help make a good idea great. Typically, agencies are structured as part service, part strategy, part creative and part execution. Please think through the % of required time by each level based on the assignment at hand. Take into consideration if your assignment is tactical by nature, or strategic. Don’t put undue pressure to have a very senior person working on a tactical project. Not only will it cost you more, but it doesn’t necessarily add value to the work needed.

Asking the right questions upfront can avoid the perception of a “Bait And Switch” later.

• Should the incumbent be in the review?
• Can referrals skew the outcome?
• Is my budget too big or too small?
• Is there potential for culture clash between my organization and the agency?
• Who owns the Intellectual Property?
• What are the costs for a traditional review?
• What are the costs associated with a review?
• Why the same % of agencies are invited by agency review consultants?
• How long does the traditional review process take?

Marketing Matchup can help you find the right marketing firm for your needs. You can search by agency size, location, industry experience, marketing services provided and past creative work. If you have a marketing project in mind, sign up for a free client membership and post your project to be automatically matched with the right agencies.

Already working on a marketing project or a campaign? We have compiled a set of marketing tools that can help both clients and agencies plan and execute your next marketing project or campaign.

Featured Agency Lists

Marketing Matchup wants to help you find the perfect marketing firm, from small boutique to large multi-nationals, whether you are conducting an agency review or assigning a marketing project.

Featured Agency By Region

New England

Mid-Atlantic

Southeast

Southern

Midwest

West Coast

Pacific Northwest


Featured Agency By Industry

Fashion & Apparel

Multicultural

Luxury Goods

Travel & Tourism

Healthcare

Financial Services

Business-to-Business

Marketing Matchup can help you find the right marketing firm for your needs. You can search by agency size, location, industry experience, marketing services provided and past creative work. If you have a marketing project in mind, sign up for a free client membership and post your project to be automatically matched with the right agencies.

Already working on a marketing project or a campaign? We have compiled a set of marketing tools that can help both clients and agencies plan and execute your next marketing project or campaign.

Marketing Tools

Whether you are a client or an agency, the list of tools below can help you plan and execute your next marketing campaign.

Getting Started:
Project Kickoff Questions - Thinking about a marketing campaign but don't know where to start? This document will help you answer the right questions before starting. Whether you are an agency or a client, it helps to fully understand all facets of your marketing needs.

Strategy:
Account Planning Checklist - This checklist was designed to help account executives and creative work together to assess a clients needs. Use this document as a starting point to focus your agency's efforts.

Media Planning Checklist - Assess your target market to determine the best media mix.

Project Time Line Template - Sample project time line. Use this as a starting point to setup the project management efforts of your next campaign.

Creative:
Creative Brief - What is the brand promise? Who is the target audience? This document will help in forming the creative brief.

Print Spec Order Form - Use this template to set up a print order for your next project.

Marketing Matchup can help you find the right marketing firm for your needs. You can search by agency size, location, industry experience, marketing services provided and past creative work. If you have a marketing project in mind, sign up for a free client membership and post your project to be automatically matched with the right agencies.

List of Agency Review Consultants

Hiring an agency review consultant is expensive. The average agency review, for both the client and agency, can run in the aggregate of about $750,000. Keep reading for a thorough explanation of why it is so expensive. If this price tag seems a bit too much then check out Marketing Matchup, we can help you find a marketing firm for free, and get a match in less than 5 business days.

According to Forrester Research, just completing the first stage of an RFI can cost an interactive agency as much as $17,000 in human capital costs. In addition, many review consultants require custom videos to be created and submitted with case studies that align along the client’s criteria. Let’s estimate an additional $10,000-$15,000 for producing, editing and duplicating these materials. In a review where 10-12 agencies are invited to the first stage, the aggregate cost is estimated at $270K-$384K – just for the first step of the process!

For agencies lucky enough to make it to the final round of the review, they can expect spec costs averaging around $100K per agency. Typically, three agencies are invited to the final round, so that is another $300K for the review consultants. Clients can expect to pay fees ranging from $25K, for a rapid review, to amounts as high as $250K. At the end of the day the client has found an agency, but at a cost that could be as high as $750k for the entire process!

Keep in mind that not a dollar has yet been spent on branding, sales, marketing – anything to generate an actual lead. As mentioned earlier, review consultants can help guide an inexperienced client through the process of hiring an agency. Or, a client could spend the money on hiring a consulting firm, like ViBrand Consulting, who can tell you how to sell smarter.

If this price tag seems a bit too much then check out Marketing Matchup, we can help you find a marketing firm for free.

If you are still interested in hiring a review consultant, we have provided a list below with links to some of the top review consultants in the world:


Agency Review Consultants

United States
AAR Partners - New York, NY
ADvice and Advisors - New York, NY
Ark Advisors - New York, NY
Arquent Consulting - New York, NY
Bob Wolf Partners - Santa Monica, Ca
Joanne Davis Consulting - New York, NY
Jones Lundin Beals - Chicago, IL
Morgan Anderson Consulting - New York, NY
Pile & Co. - Boston, MA
Roth Associates - New York, NY
Select Resources International - Santa Monica, CA
The Bedford Group - Atlanata, GA

Europe
AAR gmbh - Dusseldorf, Germany
Agency Assessments Int - London, UK
Consultores de Publicidad - Madrid, Spain
Gibory Consultant - Paris, France
ISBA - London, UK
Registr Reklamnich Agentur - Prague, Czech Republic
Scan Management Consultants - Amsterdam, Netherlands
The Observatory - London, UK
VT Scan - Paris, France

Asia/Pacific
Agency Register - Sidney, Autralia
R3 Asia Pacific - Beijing, China

Latin America
Sales, Periscinoto, Guerreiro & Associates - Sao Paulo, Brazil

Marketing Matchup can help you find the right marketing firm for your needs. You can search by agency size, location, industry experience, marketing services provided and past creative work. If you have a marketing project in mind, sign up for a free client membership and post your project to be automatically matched with the right agencies.

Already working on a marketing project or a campaign? We have compiled a set of marketing tools that can help both clients and agencies plan and execute your next marketing project or campaign.