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Whose business to take care of

business_mess

During my not-quite-long experience in the industry of advertising, I have come across several times when new comers like me were trained by veterans that agencies should “take care of our clients’ business, or else we’ll lose our own business”.

It is moving, isn’t it? Indeed I have witnessed time after time when my colleagues striving for the best of the clients’ business – or at least as they believe. The ironic point of this move is that the agency and the client are standing on two different sides, not necessarily contrary, but surely different. It looks strange as a commercial organization the agency should take care of their clients’ business rather than its own.

One’s own business may equal the client’s, and may not. A crucial factor is whether the client comes to you with a clear mind. Things may be quite easy when you have a smart client- just follow the brief and then hand in your output.

On the other hand, a mess-mind client is disaster. And my suspicion towards “client, client, client” theory usually arises at this time. A messed mind is only a result, an appearance. The reasons that caused the mess may differ dramatically:

  • The clients has no idea of their business.
  • The clients understand the business, but have no idea of what the agency is for.
  • The clients know everything yet all they want is mess, for reasons unknown. (In China such things always happen)
  • The clients know everything and concern the business, but somehow they have to start from mess. (Such happens often, too)

Under those circumstances, the agency has to judge “what the clients actually want”, with the answer usually not business. Now the agency has to make a choice: the client’s business, or its own?

As the market in China expands faster than it matures, the “mess-minded” clients will overwhelm for quite a long time in future, and agencies have to face all kinds of clients. Only by standing solid on their own sides can agencies possibly reach for the other side.

The clients’ business matters indeed,yet the agencies’ own business should overwhelm all else.


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3 Responses to “Whose business to take care of”

  1. 裸奔的鱼 on March 13th, 2009

    你好像写过好几篇类似的了,看来您老人家也一直在迷茫啊,哈哈。
    新换的博客模板不错,很喜欢,嘿嘿。

  2. wangyixin.com on March 13th, 2009

    @裸奔的鱼

    ^_^ 这篇的话,应该是已经想清楚的了,才写出来。自从来到这个行业,有些事情和想法我是不敢苟同,所以就忍不住写了。

    多谢赞模板,嘎嘎。这个是iNov,当然不是我做的……其实我最近又蠢蠢欲动想换模板了,只可惜老外设计的模板都不适合中文,我又不会自己做……唉果然我真是个不合格模板控啊

  3. pestwave on March 13th, 2009

    I can’t agree more.

    It is rather easier to get trapped by following the client’s heart than your own one, even if the customer has some idea of where the problem may be.

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  • WANG Yixin

    3 years in FMCG
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