Criteria for Selection of an Advertising Agency

For a successful advertising campaign, the choice of a right advertising agency is matter of prime importance. The choice of a wrong agency can prove to be very costly. The selection of an agency needs a logical approach. The suitability, agency infrastructure, imaginativeness and image of the agency, its management and rates are the basic factors Which are considered during the selection of an agency. The general qualifications for e Selection of an advertising agency are as follows:

• The experience of an Agency; The longer an agency has been in business, the more stable it is expected to be; and stable agencies are more reliable.
• Agency size and location: Large-budget advertisers want to go to large agencies because these agencies have better staff and more facilities. Large budget advertisers do not like to select small agencies as these are not profitable. Similarly small advertisers do not select large agencies for fear of insufficient attention.
• Product conflicts: If an agency has already another account with the same or similar product, then it is not adviseable to select that particular agency because of conflict of interest involved.
• Financial position of an agency: If the agency is in a week financial position, then it will spend more time in solving its own problems than working on the advertisers campaign. Financial difficulties also indicate the poor planning of the agency and lack of its stability.
• Special skills of an agency: Some agencies specialize in certain areas such as industrial advertising, legal advertising or medical advertising. It would be useful to know if the agency specializes in a particular product or it has specialists who are familiar in the promotion of this particular product. If the agency has special skills for the promotion of this product, it will run a successful advertising campaign.
• Current clients: Most advertisers are very careful in selecting an agency They usually see the list of the clients of an agency. An agency with a solid list of clients would be more desirable. It will also be useful to know how many new accounts were acquired in the last two or three years and how many accounts were lost. The reasons for the lost accounts may highlight some of the weaknesses of the agency.
• The process of payment: It should be seen that what is the process of payment in an agency. The advertiser will have to pay in advance or after the advertising. The client should have a detailed analysis of the method adopted so that there is no misunderstanding afterwards.

In addition to these specific areas, consideration must be given to the support services and additional facilities that the agency might have. These include market research, dealer support, public relations etc.
Client Turnover: When an advertiser leaves an advertising agency and goes to another, it is known as client turnover. There may be various reasons for the client turnover. Some are as under:

1. The advertising is not profitable.
2. The advertiser is interested in a new medium with which the present agency is not familiar.
3. The client and the agency intend to launch a campaign in a different manner.
4. Lack of coordination between the chief executives of the client firm and the agency.
5. Changes in the staff also lead to client turnover.
6. Loss of confidence in each other results in client tun over.
7. Some times the client doesn’t like the ad programme conceived by the agency.
8. Political involvement and nepotism result in client turnover.