Agency Long Term Relationships - Guy Douglass, flb MD Comments
11/03/2010

Is there a tendency for regional agencies to have longer term relationships? If so does this say something about the levels of client service that regional agencies offer their clients in a bid to demonstrate their value vs. their London counterparts?

I don’t know what the comparative length of client relationships is, but I suspect that we (those “regional agencies” referred to in the question above) have longer relationships because we hold all the cards.

But let’s just get one thing straight before I reveal what those cards are. A long-term relationship with a client is gained through great creative work that fits the client’s needs – wherever you happen to be based. If the work doesn’t cut the mustard no level of effort on the client service side will retain that client.

Card 1: A quality design agency based outside London – and there are plenty of us – tends to be populated with experienced design professionals who have done their time in London and now prefer not to commute for 90 minutes every day. They have happy, balanced lives and can concentrate on the job in hand, not the tube strike.

Card 2: Because they are happy and settled staff turnover is low. There are also a higher proportion of full timers vs. freelancers. Advantage to the client? A team who get to know their business over the long term and inherently understand where they are coming from.

Card 3: Speed of response. If the creative and client service team is consistent the understanding is quicker and the solution is reached earlier. Then we can go and see our clients using the handy nationwide motorway network (after all, how many FMCG clients are based in central London?). Alternatively the client can come and see us; no congestion charge or angry cabbies, no dirt, free parking, spacious offices in leafy Cheltenham, and a warm welcome from relaxed, happy, knowledgeable, experienced staff.

Card 4: Value. Same ability, same passion for design. Just lower cost of living, lower overheads and greater efficiency through staff retention, plus investment in the latest technology rather than pokey W1 addresses.

Card 5: Reality. We live in the real world, so we meet real consumers on a daily basis, not just in focus groups. Many clients prefer our no nonsense, “grounded in reality” approach and comment on their experiences of pretension and other-worldliness demonstrated by London agencies.

Regional agencies aren’t trying to demonstrate their comparative value through better client service levels. We don’t need to. We have better client service levels because we hold all the cards.

 

Guy Douglass

Managing Director

flb (Cheltenham)

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