Competitive Agency Landscape and Business Integrity

Agencies are innately programmed to be competitive. Agencies compete not only to land new business and retain current clients, but they compete in the media and social landscape as well. Let’s not even talk about rates and talent.

Along the way, business integrity has been compromised for some.

I’m lucky to work for an agency that I’m proud to work at every day – one that absorbs knowledge, executes ideas and commends hard work. It’s not naive to think we can be respectful and competitive at the same time. Sure, it might be utopian to think this in the scheme of PR business dynamic.

PR professionals should be working together to better the field – instead of journalists prompting us to do so. But where’s the line?

Haha #Fail.
If you’re going to call out another PR professional’s mishap - treat it as if it’s a case study. Analyze and dissect what went wrong, and what appropriate steps should have been taken before, during and after the conflict. Crisis communications is all about adrenaline and how you respond under pressure. Until you’ve been in a situation, just saying “fail” doesn’t accomplish anything. Learn from it, engage your agency and proactively decide to practice different arenas of a typical crisis communications plan.

Lose the Business, Move On
Yeah, it sucks. Agencies craft amazing, creative pitches on a daily basis - and if they don’t succeed, learn from it. It could be any number of reasons: the strategy was off, the delivery was wrong, the money didn’t justify the means. If you don’t land the new business or your client doesn’t get the story (but your competitor does) stop and analyze. Why did it happen? How did it happen? Correct it and make adjustments. Being passive aggressive and mopey isn’t professional and calls integrity for this field into play. You have amazing clients already on your roster – so make it about them.

Commend Other Agencies for Brilliant Ideas
This is where a unique line might come into play. Personal belief is that it’s great to privately acknowledge to a colleague on a great job with a placement, client or project. If acknowledged publicly, does it soften the impact that your agency might have in the industry? Is it taboo to acknowledge accomplishments of others that are direct competitors, both by location or industry? Is it too competitive to not congratulate other agencies on the efforts utilized in the space?

Also: Never be afraid to blog about successes and strategy that has worked. You can say enough without giving anything away. Engage and learn from each other.

What do you think? Disagree/Agree, and what would you add?

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NewBusinessHawk

Having been in and around thousands of new business pitches I truly believe in karma. What goes around comes around.

I have seen some very underhanded approaches in winning the business, running the business and trying to keep the business. It's been my experience that PR firms are generally more nice, while the ad agencies tend to get a bit more rough. It's a fine line...

And it never pays to cross over.

We live and work in a very small industry and word will get out.

Not just with our peers, but with clients, talent, staff, and prospects.

My simple rules for new business are much like you would tell a child:
Play nice - we're all in the same game so show some respect
Keep your hands to yourself - no stealing, no copying, no cheating
No pushing - if some plays rough turn the other cheek
Share - when someone does something great, tell them.
Don't be afraid - we all stumble and fall sometimes, just get back up
and most important; if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all

So kudos for bringing up a touchy subject, but one that needs to be discussed more often. Gives me an idea for another post.

Thank you!

Bob
Sanders Consulting Group

Blog: http://sandersconsulting.com/n.../
Twitter: http://twitter.com/newbusiness...
Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/rhs...
andreavlewis

Hi Lauren. Your post leads me to believe that pitching new business in public relations is similar to the process in advertising. With that said, I couldn't agree more about licking your wounds and learning how you can improve. I think all too often, when a pitch is lost, the agency heads are more focused on keeping morale up and trying to forget about the outcome. They just want to move on. It's a shame, but I don't think much time is spent dissecting and trying to understand "what went wrong".

Also, your idea to commend other agencies is an important one that most communication industries may take part in, only when face-to-face with the winner, but behind closed doors it's an entirely different story. I've heard other agencies be called words that typically only sailors and jailbirds use. But, thats another story... Behavior like that, should really be left to high school teenagers and not brought into collaborative creative environments like advertising, journalism and PR because in the end, the less you learn the more you're just going to continue to make the same mistakes.

Great post! =]
Gini Dietrich

Interesting thinking and I agree with you that, as communication professionals, we need to support one another. I also agree with Arik that there are plenty of us agency leaders who work together to collaborate and better the industry (if you aren't familiar with what's going on with HAPPO, check it out at http://helpaprproout.com). I belong to Counselors Academy for the sole reason of maintaining relationships with agency leaders in order to collaborate; we work with the likes of Arik, Abbie Fink, Michelle Olson, Martin Waxman, Scott Smith, Steve Farnsworth, and Scott Hepburn.

I also agree about your FAIL paragraph. I blogged earlier this week about the Toyota recall and six things I think they're doing right, from a PR perspective. I was astounded (I'm also a bit naive) to see people tell me I am dead wrong. But when I stepped back and really read the comments, I realized they were talking about the operations being handled wrong, not the PR. We all need to understand how to separate business and PR, especially in a crisis. As PR pros, we can't control everything!

http://twitter.com/ginidietric...
laurenfernandez

I am familiar with HAPPO, and am extremely excited to participate as one of two local DFW Champions.

I'm glad you brought up the Counselor's Academy - that is a true example of how you can collaborate and maintain relationships across the board.

I'm going to go check out your blog post - the dissection case study posts are the ones that intrigue me the most. They take PR and business and professionals are able to learn from them.
katiebailey

Great post, Lauren. I especially enjoyed the section about #Fail. Far too many of us PR folk are ready to jump all over every mishap in our field and make a #fail joke. What exactly does that accomplish? As you said, we should all analyze these instances as case studies. Mistakes should be opportunities to learn and grow, not laugh and point fingers.
laurenfernandez

Thanks, Katie! The fail section really spoke to me as well - you have to be able to dissect and prove the distinction.
Mike Billeter

I think another huge facet that has helped and will continue to push this transition along is the "we're all friends here" mentality that social media has ignited in (or in some cases, forced into) so many people in the marketing/advertising/PR realm. 10-15 years ago, it probably would have been pure insanity to highlight the competition's work in a white paper or case study because those types of things were usually a lot more work to create than a tweet or blog post and most/all of the limelight would have been directed away from your own team/agency.

In 2010, it's become almost the rule for people to highlight their competitors' achievements. If they don't, they can come off as looking like the self-trumpeting (and selfish) jerks who don't "get it."

Here in Sioux Falls, we have a lot of competition as far as going for regional/local clients. The strange disparity that continues to grow is the younger community of professionals (20s - mid-30s) who have really adopted the "we're in this together" mindset versus the traditionalists (late 30s to 60s) who still manage to run a majority of the "power player" agencies in the region. It seems like those folks don't understand that it's ok to share a tweet about a rival agency's award or exciting campaign.

It'll be interesting to see how that disparity continues to grow over the next few years. I'm also interested to see if, as the group of young folks grow and mature into more prominent agency roles, whether that shift continues or if the trend just evolves and the age brings competitive greed rather than a wealthy abundance of knowledge to be shared and praise to be administered.

Good thoughts, Lauren. Definitely a point to be considered by people from all areas and backgrounds, whether they work in agencies or not.
laurenfernandez

I'm glad that you brought up the traditional mindset v. the new social one - it has truly cultivated our industry, but many agencies are still being led by those that aren't open to change. That's where the distinction comes in, and why some agencies are doing better than others.

I'm also interested to see how it all plays out.
Arik Hanson

Your third point is the one that really bothers me,personally. I see a lot of agencies protecting their turf and avoiding this line of thinking. Listen, there's enough business out there for everyone. And, to be honest, if there's not, maybe that's an indication that you need to re-think a few things. Is that such a bad thing?

The agencies owner and leaders I admire don't see competitors--they see collaborators and colleagues. I'm talking about Gini Dietrich, Rachel Kay, Stephanie Smirnov and Todd Defren. Heck, Todd's posted a few items that have been positioned as "community resources." How many agencies heads take that approach? The successful ones, in my book.

@arikhanson
laurenfernandez

I think you hit the nail on the head with the thought process approach. Some are so adamantly against any form of colleague approach that they are afraid to embrace something similar. It won't hurt you, but only help you - but I also think the traditional model is difficult to shake off.
Tom O'Keefe

Good stuff, Lauren. Collaboration is key.

To add to your points, another thing that PR agencies can do more of is realize their own limitations and perhaps partner with other agencies to handle clients. Combining resources, specializations, and knowledge can only benefit the client!
laurenfernandez

Thanks, Tom! Knowing your limitations is exactly correct - you have to be able to combine resources to benefit and make your strategy that much stronger.
Catherine Patterson

Totally support this. Collaboration is key-- we have so much to learn from one another, and agencies each have their own specialties and clients. It's not like we're all stealing ideas from one another. Why not acknowledge accomplishments of others? And the whole moving on thing is so important. So you didn't get that new client. You have to think about why. You can't be afraid of looking your problems right in the face and learning from them. Know your mistakes and faults; they can only help you succeed in the long run.

I also like your final point about not being afraid to blog about successes and strategy. You won't give everything away in a blog post. Blog posts are meant to create discussion. Look at what you guys are doing with HAPPO. It's totally brilliant, and it's a great example of what this blog post is all about.
laurenfernandez

I think acknowledging accomplishments and collaborating are two different animals - and collaborating on ideas v. sharing strategy are also two different things. You can't be afraid to share - blogging about success and sharing pertinent information isn't the Pentagon.
Stuart Foster

Don't piss me off. It will not go well in the long run.
Stuart Foster

^Not calling out Lauren.
laurenfernandez

:) Most people don't like being pissed off.
Matt Cheuvront

I am a big believer in collaboration over competition. Yes, there is a line there that needs to be toed carefully - but agencies, companies, hell even us as individuals need to be more willing to share our "war stories" - what has worked, hasn't worked, what we learn from our experiences. And, as you said, never ever be afraid or commending and recognizing others for their hard work. Being bitter about other people's success is a waste of time. Congratulate others on their success, and do everything you can to learn from what they did right.

And I won't even touch on business integrity in the agency world - I have a bad taste in my mouth when it comes to that. I've seen the ugly side (and I'll be you have as well) of what happens when ethics are thrown to the curb in exchange for bottom line results.
laurenfernandez

I think its easier for some to accept the fact that they need to do it if it's viewed as a case study. Here's what went right, here's what went wrong, and here's why we did what we did - but many agencies do internal case studies that are only shared. So, is it possible to share information without giving away strategy? Absolutely. Will it be as strong? No, but you're still sharing. Thats the point.