Marketers VoxPop
Can marketers maintain healthy relationships with their marketing agencies?
PATRICK ALLEN, DIRECTOR OF MARKETING, THE CO-OPERATIVE GROUP
“It is more important than ever in these difficult economic times to forge strong relationships with your selected agencies. At the Co-operative, we pride ourselves on being here for the long term and, indeed, we have a life long relationship with many of our three million members. We choose our agencies very carefully in order to ensure they share the values and principles that form the cornerstone of our ethical trading proposition.”
JANE DAVIDSON, MARKETING MANAGER, THORNTONS
“There is no doubt marketing departments will be looking for more bang for their buck when it comes to external agencies with online, print and advertising budgets all under pressure. Now, more than ever, sound relationships built up with external advisers are of crucial importance and those agencies that fully understand their clients’ business are of immeasurable benefit. Openness and honesty should mean these relationships will endure and keep both sides on track for when the financial tide turns.”
GREGOR MINA, MARKETING DIRECTOR, BELHAVEN BREWERY
“Yes. In fact, it is more important to do so now than at any other time. Anybody can throw cash at a problem and get some sort of resolution and to a certain extent that’s what happens during the boom years – relationships aren’t nurtured or tested. It’s when your back is against the wall and every penny is a prisoner that solid working relationships are vital. Knowing that your agency understands your brand and its strengths and weaknesses in troubled times means you’ll stick together longer.”
MALCOLM ROUGHEAD, DIRECTOR OF MARKETING, VISITSCOTLAND
“The key to riding out tough times is to stand together, not panic, believe in the strategic direction you have set but revisit your tactics. Assuming that the client and agency have both been intimately involved in setting the strategic direction there should be no conflict over the direction of travel. Strong relationships will survive the tough times as much as lead to prosperity in the good days. In short, if the relationship wasn’t healthy before now why were you in it in the first place?”