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Agency/Client Switches


            This blog is dedicated to explaining why advertising agencies lose clients and a situation in which a client switched agencies. 
First things first, advertising agencies lose clients for some of the following common reasons:

·      Poor performance or service. The client becomes dissatisfied with the quality of the advertising and/or the service provided by the agency. 
·      Poor communication between the client and agency personnel that causes an unfavorable working relationship.
·      Unrealistic demands expected from the agency by the client that reduce the account’s profitability or exceed the amount of compensation received.
·      Personality conflicts between the client and agency.
·      Personnel changes.
·      Changes in the size of the client or agency. The client may outgrow the agency or vice versa.
·      Conflicts of interest.
·      Changes in the client’s corporate and/or marketing strategy.
·      Declining sales.
·      Conflicting compensation philosophies, particularly pertaining to the level or method of compensation.
·      Changes in policies.
·      Disagreements over marketing and/or creative strategy.
·      Lack of integrated marketing capabilities.

A recent (July 2013) example of a client/agency switch is Samsung Telecommunications America switching its digital ad business from Publicis Groupe’s Razorfish to Interpublic’s RGA.  The reasons for this switch are budget cuts, a change in direction on Samsung’s digital media work to be more tactically focused, and disappointing sales of Samsung’s Galaxy S4. 
In this situation, the loser is Razorfish and the winner is RGA.  Samsung is a successful client said to be the “only serious contender to Apple in the U.S. smartphone market in terms of both perception and sales” (Bruell).  RGA is fortunate to have its work noticed by such a growing company and must have made a positive impression on Samsung through its prior work with Nike and other top corporations.  Losing business with such a strong company, such as Samsung, should disappoint Razorfish.  They should have shown better capability in focusing on tactical digital media work and properly selling the Galaxy S4.




Sources and Citations

Belch, GE. and Belch, MA.  Advertising and Promotion: An Integrated Marketing Communications Perspective, 9th Edition.  McGraw-Hill Companies.  2012.

Bruell, Alexandra. "Ad Age Agency News." Advertising Age Agency News RSS. Ad Age, 10 July 2013. Web. 19 Jan. 2014. <http://adage.com/article/agency-news/samsung-telecommunications-moves-digital-business-rga/243045/>.

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