Re: advertising agency

From: Whiteside, John <John.Whiteside_at_CWUSA.COM>
Date: Fri 21 Apr 2000 12:48:27 -0400

C L LIM WROTE:
> Media owners (at least traditional media) normally
> provide 15% for agencies. In return agencies are
> supposed to cover cost of art/layout etc - its up to
> the ad buyer to negotiate.

Actually, I've never had creative costs (art/layout)
covered by the 15% commission -- those are typically
separately billed items, with the 15% covered the costs
of placing the ad and sometimes media planning.

I always had a problem with the 15% commission system
-- in my mind, it creates a financial incentive for an
agency to recommend more placements whether it makes
sense of not.

I've always worked out an arrangement with agencies
where I paid them fees for whatever services they
provided, and then placed ads directly (saving the
commission). The fees could cover just ad production,
or media planning if the agency provides that, or
actual costs of placing orders and shipping materials
if they were doing that.

John Whiteside
Senior Marketing Manager
Cable & Wireless
eMessaging Solutions
john.whiteside_at_cwusa.com
www.surecom.com / www.cwusa.com




Received on Fri Apr 21 2000 - 11:48:27 CDT