Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners is one of the few ad agenices in America worthy of admiration. The reasons are many, and now we have a new one.
Forced to defend the account once again, BSSP is walking away from BMW Mini after 11 years.
According to Campaign, agency CEO , Greg Stern said:
There has been very aggressive cost-cutting on their part in terms of a mandated compensation structure, and related to that, their cost-cutting in consolidating the media business. Because of that consolidation, which reduced our scope of work, our staffing and our fee, it made it even harder to manage the business profitably.
Knowing every three to four years you are defending the business and competing to retain the business is a significant cost and a significant amount of uncertainty. In the end, it’s a business call.
In the end, agency’s of merit owe it to themselves to say “no” to damaging client processes.
The agency would be asked to forgo six months of revenue on the Mini account in order to pursue the pitch. Can you imagine one of your best customers asking you to “start all over again” and to not get paid for half the year while doing so?
The agency business is a tough business. There are clients in this world who think agencies are interchangeable—that almost anyone can make suitable advertising. Perhaps, this is why David Ogilvy quipped, “clients get the advertising they deserve.”
IN RELATED NEWS, one of today’s best ad men, Ed Cotton, head of strategy at BSSP, has written a new piece for Fast Company that outlines five things brands need to thrive. The five attributes are Guts, Rigor, Imagination, Soul, and Agility.
