How to achieve true integration: the impact of integrated marketing communication on the client/agency relationship

ABSTRACT

Reports from the advertising industry suggest that the pressure to create effective integrated campaigns across the ever-increasing mix of paid, owned and earned media is putting an enormous strain on client/agency relationships. This research identifies the main challenges that an Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) approach places on this relationship and thereby advances the IMC literature by examining the practical challenges of implementation. Six key issues, developed from academic and industry sources, are presented to advertising experts, through a Delphi study, to stimulate debate and identify areas of agreement. The findings are brought together in a model which presents three main areas that need to be addressed, along with specific recommendations. These topics include the need for clients to provide stronger leadership in defining agency roles and responsibilities, more transparent remuneration systems to encourage teamwork across agencies as well as individual input and an increased emphasis on the strategic contribution from agencies.     

The creative code

A study investigated the phenomenon, called the creative code, which is a collection of implicit theories about an advertising agency’s creative product that are held by people within a creative department. A foundation was built upon organisation-culture theory. Evidence in literature supported the conceptualisation of the construct. Personal interviews with creative personnel at a midwestern US advertising agency found evidence for a creative code and its components, sources, conditionality and consequences. The study implies that a creative code should be considered as an independent or dependent variable in research about advertising creativity. Client and agency managers and creative employees also may benefit from being more cognisant of the creative code that exists within agency organisations.     

Trends in Total Advertising Expenditure In 10 Countries, 1970–1983: America,Australasia and the Far East

The use and relative effectiveness of comparative advertising has been extensively studied and reported on in the marketing and advertising literature. However, few studies have specifically dealt with this topic from the advertising practitioner's perspective. This paper reports the findings of an empirical investigation aimed at determining some of the factors and underlying perceptions contributing to American advertisers' and agency representatives' attitudes toward comparative advertising. Often-cited criticisms/concerns about comparative advertising as well as past and future plans to use a comparative format were specifically considered.     

广告比稿模拟在市场营销专业广告学教改中的应用研究

广告比稿是广告主选择广告公司及广告公司获取业务的重要方式。市场营销专业的广告学课程,应使学生具备从企业角度判断广告提案是否适合企业所需的能力,以及从广告公司角度做出能解决企业现实问题的广告提案的能力。广告学的实践教学采用比稿模拟的形式,有利于学生促进学生全面掌握广告学理论,也更符合市场营销专业的培养目标。     

Paying for advertising: advice for retailers

How best to pay an advertising agency is a long-standing debate, but up till now there has been little empirical evidence upon which to base decisions. In a recent survey, retailers reported lower satisfaction with their advertising agency remuneration agreement than clients in any other sector. As remuneration has the potential not only to sour day-to-day relationships, but more significandy to provide incentives to the agency for better advertising, a better agency service and value for money, getting it right is without doubt an important task. This paper examines the factors that are associated with satisfaction, notably the methods and practices of remuneration employed, the characteristics of the advertising task and advertiser situation, and advertiser attitudes on the equitability of the agreement. Findings indicate that changes to certain methods, practices and attitudes may be beneficial to both client and agency. Best-practice advice is offered, and conclusions drawn.     

Exploring advertiser's expectations of advertising agency services

Advertisers have expectations about what they will receive from an advertising agency. These expectations are about the future service they believe the agency will deliver and influence the satisfaction/dissatisfaction the advertiser has of agency performance. Using an expert sample and a native categories approach, the study explores advertiser's expectations of agency services at the selection stage. The paper makes three main contributions to our understanding of agency selection. First, we provide insight into what advertisers seek to gain from an agency in future service delivery. Second, we identify four categories of expectations: craft, affinity, functionality and perspective. Third, we illustrate the nature of these expectations and provide evidence that some expectations are less precise than others. We consider the implications of the findings for the agency selection literature and agency management.     

Agency beliefs in the power of advertising

Two opposing schools of thought on how advertising works have emerged. One, known as the ‘strong theory’, holds that advertising plays a centrally important part in the economic system of a country and is therefore a formidable market force. This view is generally associated with North American scholars and practitioners. An opposing view is that advertising is a rather weaker force, capable only of gently nudging or reminding consumers, rather than actually persuading them. This paper reports on a study of Australian advertising practitioners' beliefs in the power of advertising. Findings suggest that opinion overall is more weighted towards the strong theory, particularly among creative personnel. However, educational background/field of study, age and agency experience play significant roles in determining a practitioner's theoretical orientation. Business faculty graduates are more inclined towards the weak theory, while mass communications, journalism and art school graduates lean in the direction of the strong theory. Furthermore, younger practitioners, and those with less than seven years' agency experience, are more inclined towards the strong theory, but as they age and gain more experience, they tend towards a weak theory orientation.     

The In-House Advertising Agency

This study attempts a comparative analysis of advertisers with in-house agency vs. those using an independent advertising agency. Issues under consideration are:

1. The relationship between the advertisers and the advertising agency.

2. Advertiser's satisfaction with the compensation system, i.e., 15% commission.

3. Evaluation of advertising agency performance, i.e., creative media buying, and other services.

4. The importance of advertising to the company's marketing mix.     

Any complaints? A review of the framework of self-regulation in the Australian advertising industry

Prior to 1996, the Australian system of advertising self-regulation was regarded as a world model and many Asia-Pacific systems included components adapted from the Australian system. The recent changes to this system, encouraged by the abolition of the media accreditation system, consumer association pressure, criticism from the national advertisers association and the lack of a strong advertising agency presence, present an interesting framework in which to review the foundation concepts of self-regulation in advertising. This paper compares the new code of ethics with its predecessor and an international standard. It examines the performance of the code in terms of the number of complaints upheld and complaint by medium and product type and the voluntary response of advertisers. The findings suggest a weakening in the standard of advertising self-regulation in Australia, with fewer provisions in the Code of Ethics, a significantly fewer number of complaints upheld and no real power of enforcement. Although the case is Australian, it raises universal questions such as the vested interest of advertisers in controlling the process and roles of the consumer association, the media and the advertising agencies in guaranteeing the privilege of self-regulation.     

Gender stereotypes in advertising: a review of current research

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the historical context of gender stereotypes in advertising and then examine the scholarship related to gender stereotypes. Gender portrayals in advertising have been examined extensively in the last five decades and still remain an important topic. Changing role structure in the family and in the labor force has brought significant variation in both male and female roles and subsequently how it is reflected in advertising. It has been noted that there is a culture lag. Sexes for a long period of time were depicted in advertising in more traditional roles. Women were presented in an inferior manner relative to their potential and capabilities, while at the same the data indicated a shift towards more positive role portrayals. The changing role of men is the area that has seen the greatest interest in the past few years. Men are depicted in advertising in ‘softer’ roles, while interacting with their children. Men are also shown in more egalitarian roles. The paper finally attempts to outline the future research direction of gender portrayals in advertising. First, research should focus on examining gender portrayals in online platforms, and find ways to modify current coding schemes to digital formats. Second, companies and the media are beginning to pay attention to a once largely ignored segment the lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender (LGBT) consumer. Third, recent advertising has focused on the ‘empowered’ women called femvertising.     

Performance of China’s advertising agencies: a time series cross-sectional analysis

Although China has been the world’s second largest advertising market after the United States in terms of advertising spending since 2006, the performance of advertising agencies in China and the factors that contribute to this performance have been understudied. However, by incorporating the structure-conduct-performance model and agency theory into the integrative framework and conducting a time series cross-sectional analysis, we determine that the degree of concentration in the advertising agency industry and number of regulations in the advertising industry have had significant negative effects on the financial performance of agencies. In addition, agencies with mainly foreign capital have performed better than those with only Chinese capital. Agencies adopting strategies of initial public offering (IPOs) or engaging in name changes and mergers have performed better than those that have done nothing. Implications are also discussed.     

A content analysis of male roles in television advertising: Do traditional roles still hold?

Analysis of male roles in television advertising is limited. In order to remedy this, our research serves as a catalyst by providing a review of the current literature, conducting a preliminary examination of male roles in television advertising, and discussing ways for this area of research to move forward in the future. Specifically, the study conducted in this paper examines television advertising to provide insight on the depiction of males, the portrayed relations between males and other individuals, and how these depictions may have changed from 2003 to 2008. Male depictions in lead roles are contrasted using 907 primetime commercials from 2003 and 961 commercials from 2008 from the four major US broadcasting networks (ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX). Results suggest that some aspects of male depictions in advertising are counter to, while other aspects are reflective of, the changing gender roles occurring in society.     

Searching for a New Advertising Agency: A Client Perspective

The recent downturn in economic conditions has motivated many organizations to reevaluate their advertising. Many companies have cut their spending and others have changed agencies in the hope of achieving a better return on their advertising expenditure. This article records information from a survey of ninety-five Australian companies which recently changed their agency, and sixty-one companies which thought they might change in the near future. The findings focus on the reasons for changing agencies, the types of information used to help select a new agency, and characteristics of the group of managers which selected a new agency.     

Participation by U.S. Agencies in International Brand Advertising: An Empirical Study

Abstract

Marry ad agency executives have proclaimed the era of the global advertising agency. They observe that corporations are moving towards placement of their worldwide advertising through a single agency, and they predict that a few large “mega-agencies” will take over a majority of international advertising accounts. Yet, no published studies have examined how many brands are actually handled by the same ad agency worldwide. This paper presents the results of a survey examining the extent to which U.S. companies use the same agency to advertise abroad and in the home market. The study found that of the brands sold abroad, only about one-third are handled by the same agency both at home and abroad. This proportion does not vary significantly with advertising budgets, by product class, or between standardized and non-standardized brands. In addition, no single-agency group or “mega-agency” handles more than eight percent of the sample brands, and no agency handles a majority of its U.S. brands abroad.     

广告代理公司工作环境的不同对广告开创性业务成果的影响——以情绪智商(EQ)和社会智能(SQ)为中心

本研究以广告代理公司中就职的员工为研究对象，对广告代理公司不同的工作环境对广告开创性业务成果的影响进行研究。所得结论为：1、综合广告代理公司和广告制作公司在社会智能的下属属性中社会性技术的心态，情绪智商的下属属性中情绪调整和活用情绪及开创性业务成果认识上都存在着差异；2、广告企划者和创作组广告人的社会智能和情绪智商及开创性业务成果认识识别上没有差异。因此，在广告代理公司中，与创意性成果有着紧密关联的广告企划者和创作组，都非常了解应重视开创性业务的重要性；3、广告人工作时间越长，社会智能和情绪智商对创意性业务成果的认识越高；4，广告人的工作时间和职位越高开创性业务成果认识越高。     

Investment in online advertising and return on sales: Does it pay to outsource the services to an advertising agency?

Abstract

The effect of investing in online advertising on a firm’s financial outcomes can depend on whether or not the development and implementation of advertising campaigns are managed by advertising agencies. Agencies may have experienced professionals or workload to perform these jobs, but the costs are greater. This paper aims to investigate the effects of investments in digital marketing on the financial outcome of a company’s services, comparing whether or not it is outsourced to advertising agencies. The secondary data relates to services advertised and marketed by a firm. We tested the possible moderating effect of outsourcing the service in the relationship between investment in online advertising (Google and Facebook) and return on sales (profit margin), by controlling the effect of covariates. Through four regression analyses, the results showed that outsourcing the service moderates the relationship. Specifically, the higher the amount of advertising investment, the more it pays to outsource the service to an advertising agency in order to generate greater profit margin. But with a low investment value, it does not pay to outsource. This study helps to identify situations in which it pays to outsource digital marketing services to an advertising agency.     

Intermediary roles in local mobile advertising: Findings from a Finnish study

This research examines the intermediary roles that advertising agencies perform between small local advertisers and a mobile advertising service provider. The intermediary roles have been left unexplored, although the agencies have influence on their client's decisions to use new media. A real-life experiment of new mobile advertising system was conducted, and interview data from eight advertising agencies were collected. The findings show that agencies may play three types of roles. In playing connecting, mediating, and inhibiting roles, agencies influence the value created not only for their clients' but also for themselves and the advertising media provider.     

Book review

A study was undertaken to examine how Chinese advertising professionals perceive issues surrounding advertising education. Participants were solicited from advertising agencies in the cities of Beijing and Hangzhou. The findings indicate that Chinese advertising professionals hold a positive attitude towards advertising education and strongly believe that more undergraduate and graduate advertising programmes are needed in China. Degrees from advertising education programmes abroad were also seen in a favourable light and were thought to lead to faster raises and promotions. The results also established an initial picture of the individual and agency demographics of today's Chinese advertising professionals. The implications for Chinese and Western advertising education programmes are discussed.     

The Death of Advertising

Abstract

Mass media advertising as we know it today is on its deathbed, and its prognosis is poor. Advertising agencies are restructuring to accommodate a harsher advertising climate, agency income is flat, agency employees are being laid off, direct marketing is stealing business from traditional advertising, and the growth of sales promotion and integrated marketing communications both come at the expense of traditional advertising. The reason for advertising's impending demise is the advent of new technologies that have resulted in the fragmentation of media and markets, and the empowerment of consumers. In the place of traditional mass media advertising, a new communications environment is developing around an evolving network of new media, which is high capacity, interactive and multimedia. The result is a new era of producer-consumer interaction. Because of the speed of technological innovation, the new media advertising paradigm that results will attain prominence faster than did mass media advertising. The new paradigm of 21st Century Marketing and advertising will be dominant by 2010 and should last well into the middle of the century. If they hope to survive, university advertising departments will have about ten years to 1) think of themselves much more broadly, and 2) transform themselves into departments specializing in information transfer in the new media environment.