Client Servicing: Online Advertising and Offline Advertising

Yes, I know I have been very lazy and I hope to be regular now on. What made me write this post is the verrry interesting topic: is Client Servicing redundant in Advertising Agencies?

My creative director, Shubho, wrote a mail to a few of us in the client servicing dept of our 'digital advertising agency'. The mail said 'Client Servicing: Take in positive spirit'. lol

So the mail said:

Originally said by David Ogilvy but tweaked to present day conditions.
Client servicing is dead as we know it. Clients do not want
co-ordinators or glorified waiters and neither does the agency. What
clients and agencies need are people who can create value and
demonstrate value. It is not client servicing in the traditional sense
but smart account management which can demonstrate accountability to
the client and agency. The disparity in the compensation packages
between agencies and clients have witnessed bright minds from
b-schools and good institutions migrate to client companies.
Gone were the days when brand managers aspired to be account managers,
and gone are the days when good account managers knew more about the
brand than brand managers.

The problem is three fold, firstly the current crop of young folks
think they know a lot about marketing and communication and refuse to
learn and increase their knowledge base. We are in a knowledge economy
for heaven’s sake & if we can demonstrate to clients how our knowledge
can empower him/her, they will pay us more. Secondly, all of them want
to be millionaires in a couple of years without wanting to dirty their
hands. They dread the thought of getting into the market where the
marketing wars are being fought. They think they are good planners but
the plans they write are extremely sketchy and lack focus and
creativity. Thirdly they lack passion for the industry they are in. If
they are offered a job in another industry at a ten percent increase
they will lap it up.

Clients have changed over the last fifteen years and have become
extremely demanding. They want their agencies to be accountable for
every rupee they spend and demonstrate value and return on investment.
They want their agencies to be the “Voice Of The Consumer” and
therefore demand their agencies to hire personnel who understands
branding and adept in planning apart from cutting edge creative
solutions. These days clients come out for lunch less often, pay
agencies lesser, wants jobs delivered quicker and with more options.

From advertisers' view point, it boils down to account management having business acumen (ie)
understanding brands and how it can be a value multiplier, good
planning, organizational & leadership skills. Good communication and
presentation skills are mandatory and are taken for granted. Having a
positive attitude and good people skills are essential in the people’s
business we are in, as well as passion for the business we are in.
Having an inquisitive mind is also a pre-requisite. If brand and
management consultants can charge a bomb for their services why
should’nt communication consultants ? If communication is the critical
tool by which one builds brands, we need to be compensated fairly.
This can only be demonstrated via account management/account planning.
So go head and demonstrate value and how communication has impacted
the clients business and ask for a just compensation. So good-bye
client servicing and say hello to brand communications management.

I certainly do not agree and I will post my reaction in the next post.

Any reactionsform anyone?