India’s advertising agency heads are angry and the object of their ire is the client, rather ‘bad clients.’
Consider this: a huge QSR (quick service restaurant) brand called for a pitch. Unlike most pitches these days, this was an AoR (agency on record) pitch and not a project. An AoR is the official agency of the brand, a single agency responsible for all the ad services that a particular brand/business might require. Fifteen agencies were shortlisted by the pitch consultant put on the job. Finally after waiting for months, the client picked an agency.
When pitches are called, agencies run in droves to throw their hat in a crowded ring. With the competition being so intense, large network agencies are cutting their fees by a third just to bag a deal, sources reveal.
Agencies aren’t typically paid for the ideas and work they put into pitches. The worst part is some clients lift ideas. Ideas shared in pitches have found their way to campaigns that eventually go to a cheaper firm or are done in-house.
In a recent case, a large well-known advertiser in the beverages space called for a pitch. Again, almost a dozen agencies showed up, clamouring for the brand’s creative business. They pitched, hoping to bag the prestigious account, only to find the client eventually boasting about creating its own campaign in-house. Industry insiders suspect the campaign was the product of one or more ideas pitched by the agencies.
Unfortunately, though not unexpectedly, none of the chiefs of the `big agencies’ were available to comment on this article.
Vivek Pradeep Rana, Managing Partner, Gnothi Seauton, a multi-disciplinary, independently-owned, communications lab, shared how previously clients valued the expertise and creativity of agencies, viewing them as essential partners. Today, many clients approach pitches with a transactional mindset, often using the process to harvest ideas without the intention to collaborate.
This commoditisation of creative work, he says, devalues the agency’s role and undermines the essence of true partnership. Such practices not only harm agencies but also deprive clients of the deep insights and strategic guidance a dedicated agency partnership offers.
Over the past decade in India, more and more independent agencies have sprouted up while the number of clients hasn’t necessarily seen a sharp rise. This has obviously contributed to the clients feeling “there’s plenty of fish in the sea” and making agencies jump through hoops to win their business.
Several big-name clients have increased their focus on “content days,’’ when they float a brief in the market with the sole intention of capturing campaign ideas. All this without shelling out a single rupee from their marketing budget, says creative director and stand-up comic Jackie J. Thakkar.
“I’ve seen clients become a lot more entitled in these last 10 years or so. Smaller agencies are obviously hungrier for business, and clients take advantage of this. It’s a practice that needs to change and more conversations need to be had about implementing a mandatory pitch fee,” he adds.
Quoting a similar experience, Siddharth Devnani, Co-Founder and Director of marketing agency SoCheers, remarks, “Previously, the pitch process was driven more by relationships, trust, and it was face-to-face. However, things are changing with time: many brand managers are calling for pitches via LinkedIn, getting bombarded by hundreds of enquiries. And there’s a sense of urgency, of campaign-to-campaign thinking, over long-term brand building.”
How to spot a bad / good client
Although rare, experts say that problematic client behaviour is, surprisingly, often seen with MNCs and some ambitious start-ups.
Small and mid-size firms demonstrate greater value for agency partnerships. MNCs leverage their brand power to coerce agencies into exhaustive, unpaid pitch processes only to appropriate their ideas. Start-ups, driven by tight budgets and high expectations, might promise future work that never materialises, essentially using agencies as a free think tank, shares Rana.
Devnani warns that any agency is vulnerable, but the newer and independent ones are more so — because they are hungry for work and go out of their way to please clients. “We’ve grown more vigilant and opted for standardised contracts to ensure that ideas and concepts are safeguarded,” he says.
“The bigger the brand, the more leeway they get when it comes to demanding free ideas with unreasonable timelines. Every creative professional has directly or indirectly experienced some level of being stiffed. Sometimes it’s a case of late or no payment, and other times the ideas are conveniently rejected at the pitch stage, but then few months later, a curiously similar campaign idea will have been commissioned by the client with another agency (which likely executed it at a cheaper cost.),” shares Thakkar.
It’s almost always the small to mid-level agencies that get duped like this. Their desperation for associating themselves with a big client is exploited far too often, industry insiders say.
Anecdotally, the industry average for the length of a client-agency relationship seems to be about 3.2 years — a drastic reduction from what earlier used to be about 10 years.
A pro tip for sustaining a healthy client-agency relationship is to prioritise open communication, set clear expectations, and consistently deliver business value, say ad executives.
Regularly revisiting and realigning goals can help maintain a strong, productive partnership that withstands the test of time.
The ‘good clients’, experts say, tick the following boxes:
1. They think of the agency / creative partner as collaborators rather than service providers or vendors.
2. They give constructive feedback and back that up with logical points instead of stonewalling the agency’s POV. An ideal client clearly articulates their requirements, which helps agencies develop appropriate business solutions.
3. They have a crystal clear vision of what they want and an even clearer vision of how much money they are willing to put behind it.
4. The right kind of client embodies fair financial practices.
5. Lastly, they value long-term relationships and are committed to mutual growth and success. Such clients understand that a strong agency relationship is a competitive advantage, leading to more effective campaigns, deeper consumer insights, and, ultimately, better business outcomes.