Guide on getting the best out of your Video production Ad Agency and when to swap with another

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You have appointed your agency – great! However, what happens if they are not so ‘great’ or you feel that your brand is not being represented in the best possible way? What if the Account Director leaves mid-project. What if the person assigned understands your brand positioning but fails to execute on the promise. Are they over promising and under delivering?

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“Think about your agency over the past year. If they challenge and push you to get the best for results, the relationship is worth saving.”

The role of Ad and marketing agencies is to elevate the overall position of your company. Agencies can help increase brand awareness, drive new customers, and create innovative and highly effective customer retention programs. When these agency relationships are healthy, they can be highly profitable. However, what happens if they sour? 

Here are our top hints and tips on identifying that situation and navigating though it… 

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1 How to identify you may be at a crossroads…

The agency is not delivering on its promises

• Your results are not improving because of your marketing activities. You may have noticed a growing pattern of slipping deadlines, over-promising and under-delivering, mistakes, or lack of focus on your campaign. 

The agency is missing targets and not measuring success.

• All business has ups and downs, and most have seasonality. However, if your agency is consistently missing their numbers and trying to cover their misses this is a problem. If they are not informing you of their performance – this is a clear red flag.    

The agency continues to push for increased budgets

• Increasing your budget is a solid recommendation in some instances. There are also many innovative ways of utilising your budget rather than increasing your spend. Your agency should be coming to you with creative solutions to solve problems. 

The agency just doesn’t get you and your customers.

• If the agency has not fully researched your customers and how they place value in your product, they will not be able to create the emotional connections required to: increase your awareness of your campaign, drive sales and conversion. 

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“Creativity requires thinking differently. Thinking differently requires risk-taking. And risk-taking is a challenge you should share with your agency partner”.

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2 Transitioning to a new agency 

Review the terms of your contract.

• Whether your agency runs on a retainer, project, or time and materials-based agreement will usually impact how easy it is to get out of your contract. Review cancellation and transition policies in your documentation.

Review any additional legal documents.

• Make sure you have copies of all signed and countersigned documents including NDA’s, non-competes and contractor agreements. Understand what the agency can say, not say, and whom they can solicit when your working relationship ends.

Talk to your legal team about your desired plan of action.

• Review all documentation, then discuss with your solicitor how and when you’d like to sever the relationship. Your legal team should inform you what assets and copyrights the agency should provide. Make sure you get a list of everything you’re contractually entitled to receive.

Review agency software access.

• As you are making a break, you will want to ensure that there is no continued access to your data, software, or systems. You may want to purchase licenses to any tools or software your agency uses on your behalf to ensure continuity of data. 

Prepare a termination letter.

• You, and or your solicitor should prepare a termination letter. 

Start looking for replacements.

• The Ad world is small, and you do not want to give your current agency news of your intentions at the wrong time. Therefore, employ a degree of discretion while looking for a replacement. 

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“Remember: If your ad agency isn’t regularly encouraging you to do things to beat your competition, it’s not doing its job.” 

Your ad or marketing agency should come to you with smart creative campaigns or awareness strategies that aim to be different from the competition. Differentiation is the name of the game. If it’s been done before you might feel more comfortable, but it won’t break new ground to get you noticed ahead of an ever-increasing competitive landscape.Remember also that creativity is the true variable for success. If they are creative and execute video, animation, story-based campaigns that cut through the noise, you should keep them close before your competition snaps them up.Even if you experiment with new or unproven tactics, you might strike gold or at least learn from your new prospects or even existing customers. Your agency should also help you re-examine your strategic approach from the ground up, to explore if there is a fresh angle to use for building business success. You must always use an agency that takes the initiative to think on its own and doesn’t just follow the same lead from the last decade. That’s how you know you are spending wisely on the right partner to help you achieve success.