The Deadly Quick Dollar
August 18, 2008 by OA Group · Leave a Comment
I was reading Advertising Age this morning as usual and saw that Chipotle, the healthy fast-food mexican chain, has put their marketing account up for review. Companies switch between agencies on a regular basis for a myriad of reasons, however Chipotle made an interesting remark when they announced the event. Chipotle’s CEO Steve Ells said
“We are looking for an agency that wants to develop a long-term relationship with Chipotle and our current marketing partners.”
Notice his subtle phraseology, they are looking for someone that wants to develop a “long-term” partnership, reading between the lines of the release Ells is saying that their current agency is not interested in a long term partnership. One of the most frustrating components of being in the advertising agency ecosystem is when I see other agencies going after the quick dollar as opposed to focusing on developing a solid business relationship. With every client that I work with directly, my first priority is helping to create marketing vision for the next 3-5 years.
The majority of agencies do not have deep social media experience, and lack the fundamental knowledge of how to execute digital advertising campaigns. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve encountered a client who showed me the pricing their former agency was charging for certain campaigns, where I’ve discovered they were paying 2 to 10 times too much! This means that if the firm had performed a full due diligence process they could have gotten 2 to 10 times the exposure for their client. I can’t say the exact reasons why Chipotle left their old agency, but I can tell you that the top goal for any business relationship needs to be developing a long-term, mutually beneficial partnership. Working hard and lean in the beginning will pay both parties great results for years to come.
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