Yevhenii Myroniuk from Brain Tank "not on record" spoke with colleagues from Ukrainian advertising agencies, and they poured him all the pain of the agency business.

The Law of Ukraine "About Information" allows me not to disclose sources until the court obliges. Our sources smoke, use foul language, work in advertising and communications, not for the first ten years — all I can tell at the moment, "- says Yevhenii in a post for MC.today.

1. Running for too short distances

Price tenders are stupid, and it is difficult to calculate the effect of advertising in money. Therefore, contractors are selected from awards on shelves. But most of the promotional awards are now collected by short branding or commercial projects. The planning horizon for agencies is not years but months. It is neither possible to go deep into the customer's business nor to consolidate the results during this time.

Already known the histories of selling to the client the projects that offer branded USB for coffee shops and table ashtrays for food. From this detail, it is possible to identify sprinters unmistakably.

2. Work without immersion

Sprints bring rewards, and rewards bring money. Therefore, clients are convinced that such projects will solve business problems.

The customer builds a house, and the agency makes corporate identity and video. Everybody's happy, thank you, goodbye. But the company has daily needs. The buyer arrives, you need to print out the planning — and there is a corporate identity. A sales office sign is required — and there is a video.

We had a similar failure. We did a strategy and rebranding of a logistics company, but it simply failed to use our ideas. Well, who in the design of the logo thinks how it will lie on a 20-ton truck? It turned out the client was thinking. After a while, we learned that the client had worked out the application methods instead of us and found that giving up composite paint for six months would save him $ 7 million.

3. Disclaimer

There is a strong perception that network agencies are exclusively engaged in adaptation and routine marketing. But if short-term projects, networks, and all other agencies are rewarded in the market, they will be glad to take responsibility for the day-to-day use of their creative: how it will lie on wobblers and shelf-talkers (advertising products used for counter and shelves design - red.), how to close the real touchpoints (points of contact with the consumer - red.) of the client's business.

"Do you know how to put a pad printing on a cup? Then do it yourselves. "This deeply flawed approach now dominates.

4. The disappearance of specialization

For various reasons, from bidding on short projects to leaking advertising brains, large agencies are losing their previously owned expertise. There are fewer and fewer teams and specialists in the Ukrainian market with a deep understanding of individual industries. Increasingly, the agencies are competing for tenders whose teams know neither category history, product recipe, nor production chain operations.

There is a common situation where the agency's creative department staff are too passionate about testing a la childfree's fashion beliefs and veganism. And when it comes to working on the category of yogurts for children, they are, to put it mildly, like a fish out of water.

5. Agencies copy the worst quality clients

Not all clients know how their business will grow. This is where the gloom in strategy and communication comes from. Ordering a logo or one clip is explained by a simple misunderstanding of what the company will do next. How to implement? How to pay off? How will this affect sales? Many managers do not know the answers, and most do not even ask such questions.

When there is no customer request, contractors are tempted not to come up with problems. Doing better than asked requires honesty, ambition, resources, and expertise.

Here is a great example of residential real estate. The client is just entering the market, and as usual, the architects are trying to surprise the newcomer with a Le Corbusier-style solution. We count business metrics, create audience accounts, conduct focus groups, and quantitative research. The conclusions are predictable: potential buyers do not accept the facade project for which it has already been paid. A client is in tears, and an architectural bureau is in bayonets; the agency becomes the messenger who brought the bad news.

That is why new clients hear from us that we only sign annual contracts. This is the minimum time to plunge into the client's business and help him as much as possible. No monthly "runs."

The origin article is here (in Russian).