The AoR is dead; Long Live the AoR

A panel of experts at afaqs! Marketer’s Excellence Awards discuss how relationships between clients and agencies are evolving in the digital age

Some of the very best work that has been produced in advertising, is a result of a long-standing relationship between the two, for eg: Mondelez and Ogilvy.

However, as the advertising landscape changes and moves more towards digital, the dynamics between the two are changing. A panel of experts at the 3rd afaqs! Marketer’s Excellence Awards discuss how the relationship between client and agencies have evolved over the years.

The panel that included Aditya Kanthy, CEO,DDB Mudra Group; Sanjay Adesara, head of marketing, Adani Wilmar Limited; Shams Jasani, CEO, Wunderman Thompson South Asia; Sudeep Chawla, VP of marketing and sales at Pidilite Industries Limited and Sujay Rachh, CMO, Nuvama Group also discuss the elements of a strong agency-client relationship and how can that relationship become stronger.

The panel spoke about how the landscape today is changing and how each brand is working with multiple agencies at once.

Role of on-record agencies in a complex environment

Chawla of Pidilite Industries states that they work with 7-8 agencies even though they have an agency on record. He says although they work with multiple partners, the agency on record is the biggest brand custodian in such situations. 

“ We work with two types of agencies/partners. One who you give a brief to and they work towards a bigger narrative, the others (agency on record) are truly brand partners, they are the bigger brand custodians than some of the brand managers and have been with the brand for a long time. They have a significant amount of residual knowledge of the brand. These agencies are limited. We will keep having one touch agencies depending on the specialisations that come by. I don’t mind if one touch agencies proliferate but the brand partners should be fewer and you should nourish and deepen those relationships,” he says. 

“Given the business we are in, it is a very complex world for people to understand. When we invest in a partner to come in and work we hope the partner also equally invests in understanding our business and once they have done that we want to stick with them. It becomes easier to manage with them and you have someone working alongside for your goals vs you trying to work with 8-10 agencies where it becomes a challenge especially in a complicated business like ours. At maximum we work with 3-4 agencies at a time. We try to build capabilities within the system and that's how we try to simplify our lives,” says Rachh of Nuvama group. 

Jasani of Wunderman Thompson adds that agencies have truly evolved and have become brand partners for many brands. 

Kanthy of DDB Mudra states that even though agencies have in-house specialised wings, the client should always be priority.

“We have in-house agencies and have also built environments within client companies, however, some of the most successful work has been done in partnership with tech companies, some with specialised agencies etc.” 

“Agencies must understand that it’s not much about selling what you own and shove everything down the client’s throat. It is about being useful to the problem and the opportunity that the client has presented. It's exactly like when older agencies set out to have media wings. It is impossible today to think of a world where media agencies and creative agencies don’t sit together. This same complexity now mirrors the digital ecosystem.”

Challenges

For brands, talking to multiple agencies as well as ensuring there is smooth flow of information between these agencies is a task.

Speaking about the challenges that a client faces in a complex digital ecosystem, Rachh of Nuvama Group states, “We are in the midst of a rebranding exercise. We worked with the agency right from the get go. We expected them to add values where we didn’t know much and that's what they did. From there on, we have had several partners from the same group work with us so the information flow has been smooth. This way of working has been really working for us. However, when we say we want external partners coming in and working with us there is always some resistance that we face.  Sometimes it is about the remuneration we are willing to offer and other times it’s an attitude issue.” 

To which Jasani of Wunderman Thomson responds that agencies themselves are navigating the ecosystem. 

“The lead agencies are still understanding the ecosystem and we are trying to understand what roles we play here. The characteristics and people are changing, the new ways of advertising are coming in and there is much more professionalism in the industry today. Every second day a new touchpoint is coming up. An entire learning curve is happening at our end. It is more to do with that than anything else.” 

Adesara of Adani Wilmar group further adds that they look for deeper relationships within a partner. He says that agencies are not shying away from becoming specialised themselves. 

“However the touchpoints of consumers have increased. Agencies are not shying away from their specialities. The existing business partner (lead agency) will have a say on the other partnerships we perform and that’s what we appreciate."

The panel then concluded that having mutual respect, understanding and connection is crucial for a successful agency-client relationship.

Catch the entire conversation here: