Optimarketer: The Marketing Optimization Blog

Leo Burnett Addresses Employees for the Last Time

Leo Burnett called his farewell address, "When to Take My Name Off the Door." The legendary figure who brought us Charlie the Tuna, Jolly Green Giant, Tony the Tiger, and Pillsbury Doughboy gave this heartfelt speech shortly before his 1967 retirement from the advertising powerhouse now known as Leo Burnett Worldwide. (Yes, his name is still on the door.)

Burnett was born in the 19th century, and his words are hopelessly antiquated, but I hope you give this seven-minute video a serious look. Chicago's salt-of-the-earth advertising giant saw it all coming: merger mania, the obsession with short-term profits, and the spinelessness. I wonder what he'd think of 21st century agency life.

Leo died just four years after giving this speech.

Why Direct Marketing Agencies Don't "Put Skin In The Game"

Some prospects ask whether we'll work on a contingency basis: If the stuff we create succeeds, we get paid, and if it doesn't, we get zip. Or they ask us to take a big reduction off our usual fee up front and receive the balance if the campaign is profitable. Here's why we turn down those offers:

1. We only control some of the variables that contribute to the outcome -- We don't have anything to do with product quality, the competitive situation, price, sales team quality, customer service, the economic climate, the location, or weather conditions. And believe it or not, some products don't have enough of a natural pulse to ever fly.

2. It could be tough to get accurate results reports -- Some clients don't have systems in place to thoroughly track results. And will 100% of clients supply accurate results data in these cases? You tell me.

3. Agencies have an inconvenient item called overhead -- Like our clients, we regularly pay salaries, rent, insurance, and other expenses that keep a business running. If we get paid many months after we incur the costs, we dig ourselves a financial hole.

4. Prospects that make these requests aren't true marketing advocates -- They're usually sales managers who don't understand marketing or believe in its potential. The non-believers tend to be among the worst clients.

5. There's no rational economic reason for clients to operate this way -- For 100+ years, clients have paid marketing services firms for their effort and received valuable services in return. If the campaign doesn't produce, fire the agency. But don't ask professionals to work for free. 

6. Agencies shouldn't enter into win/lose relationships -- Many of these offers involve huge upside potential for clients and no significant financial incentive for agencies. I've asked prospects to give us an appropriate bonus for transforming the bottom line in exchange for a modest reduction in our fees. I've never had a single taker.

7. Awesome agencies have other options -- For every prospect that asks an agency to put skin in the game there's another willing to pay the agency's going rate.

8. We already have an incentive to do awesome work -- If our work succeeds, the client is likely to keep working with us. That's a pretty powerful incentive.

9. Agencies are stocked with highly trained, skilled, accomplished professionals -- Would you ask your doctor to put skin in the game?

An End-of-Year Warning for Marketing People: Speed Kills

It's that time of year again ... when marketers (and their agencies) are expected to conceive, develop, and launch new campaigns within just a few weeks. You know the drill: New work must begin circulating shortly after the first of the year -- or else.

At Mothers of Invention, we regularly help direct marketers with small windows of opportunity -- and legitimate reasons for operating under accelerated schedules.

Clients often ask us to promote events with fixed dates. We either get the stuff out very quickly or miss the chance to market at a profitable rate. Fair enough.

But then there are the marketers with arbitrary deadlines. Someone up the organization decides to launch a campaign in a fraction of the usual time -- without considering the advice of the people responsible for creating the campaign.

Very often, marketing managers behind these requests are responding to pressure from bosses. And usually the bosses of these bosses aren't paying the bills for the campaign. They're playing with someone else's money. That's why it's easy to choose speed over quality -- and ROI.

As a business owner, if an expert tells me a bit more time will significantly improve our odds of success, I'm going to ask the team to take more time. I'm not here to deliberately lose money.

The number one goal, of course, should never be to get something out ASAP. We're supposed to stack the deck in our favor, not cripple our chances. Unfortunately, many well-intentioned agency people feel they can't demand reasonable schedules. They don't want to risk losing the work.

But they always, always have an obligation to inform the client, in no uncertain terms, of the tradeoffs associated with each alternative -- and then let the client make the call.

By the way: Be careful on the road this weekend.

Advice to Agencies with Bad Clients

Drop 'em.

That's right -- fire those rude, unprofitable, awful clients.

Just don't do it today.

After all, people are counting on you to meet your overhead.

Do it when you're able to replace a bad client with a good one.

One that needs, wants, and appreciates what you deliver.

Think of it as an upgrade.

Nice people deserve to work with nice people.