Industry Expert Joanne Davis Shares How to Get Your Agency to Run Through Brick Walls—Without Paying More…
… Through humor and wisdom, Joanne Davis provides an essential new book for maximizing Client-Agency Relationships by highlighting “good” and “bad” marketer behavior…
More than one trillion dollars are spent globally on advertising—a figure exceeding the GDP of 19 countries.
Imagine the waste to companies and their stockholders when marketers do not learn the basic skills of briefing, guiding, and motivating their agencies. Sadly, not enough organizations invest in ensuring that marketers can become better clients.
Surprisingly, few books are dedicated to how marketers can bring out the best in their advertising agencies. With the release of How to Get Your Agency to Run Through Brick Walls—Without Paying More, author Joanne Davis offers a concise yet impactful volume that delivers a compelling message for clients seeking to unlock the full potential of their agency partnerships.
Joanne Davis of Joanne Davis Consulting has a reputation for helping to find a still point in the constantly churning world of client-agency relationships. As a long-time senior advertising leader and brand builder, she lived through hundreds of agency searches.
When she started her company 20 years ago, she promised her clients (and herself) that she would correct the wrongs. From concepts like “Can This Agency-Client Marriage Be Saved?” to specific ideas on how to repair relationships, she has proven that while change may be constant, it doesn’t have to break partnerships.
How to Get Your Agency to Run Through Brick Walls—Without Paying More… is designed to give real-life examples and succinct advice to time-starved marketers, procurement managers new to the advertising category, and agency leaders who want to teach their clients how to create a win.
While her book tackles a serious subject, it is designed to be an engaging, instructional read—not an easy balance to deliver, but Joanne Davis manages it well. The book is structured to showcase “Client Bad Behavior” and “Client Good Behavior,” as well as how the agency responds—despite their inner thoughts.
Organized into three sections– Foundation of the Relationship, Inspiring Creativity, and Business Matters— the book addresses practical and problematic issues, highlighted by Joanne’s straightforward advice. Her Glossary of Terms, or “Code Words and Ambiguous Phrases,” is a brilliant addition that adds another layer of entertainment—and honesty– to the book.
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“The success of any client-agency relationship hinges on mutual respect, clear communication, and a shared commitment to excellence,” says Joanne Davis. “I wrote this book because, too often, clients fail to realize that they hold the power to shape their agency’s performance, My goal is to show clients how to achieve results that feel like the impossible—without breaking the bank.”
COST OF THE PITCH
Bob Liodice, CEO of ANA, provides a Foreword to the book and offers a thoughtful perspective on the state of client-agency dynamics today, reinforcing the importance of Joanne Davis’ message. Bob Liodice has long advocated for stronger partnerships in the marketing world, and his endorsement lends weight to the book’s critical insights.
When one considers How to Get Your Agency to Run through Brick Walls in connection with the ANA/4A’s 2023 Cost of the Pitch survey, it is also becomes clear that simply changing teams doesn’t always guarantee better advertising results.
The Cost of Pitch reveals that if a typical pitch has three agencies as finalists, the average total cost of a review is about $1.2 million when an incumbent agency is involved. In addition to this financial impact, potential disruptions to routine operations, postponements in advertising campaigns and product rollouts, and the effects on relationships with partners mean that this process should be taken seriously or perhaps even avoided.
Interestingly, the ANA/4As Survey also showed that agencies (38%) and brand marketers (33%) emphasize a commitment to developing long-term relationships as the most important factor for reducing the need for an account/agency review. Thirty-three percent of marketers also cite a focus on aligning the right people that best complement client/agency counterparts.
OTHER CONTRIBUTORS
Published by Internationalist Press, the book also includes quotes from marketing and procurement leaders such as Rhonda Hoffman, EVP Chief Growth Officer of Pharmavite; Lili Tomovich, CMO of Barclays; Amy Martin Ziegenfuss, CMO of Carnival Cruise Line; Charlie Shikany, VP of Corporate Indirect Procurement & Center of Excellence of Constellation Brands and more. Plus, the book features entertaining cartoons from Tom Fishburne.
In many ways, How to Get Your Agency to Run through Brick Walls echoes the humor and situational depth of the Marketoonist’s weekly messages to the industry. Tom Fishburne, as The Marketoonist, possesses a remarkable talent for capturing the challenges and sentiments of contemporary marketing in a single image. The book uses three examples of his outstanding work to set the tone for each section.
To learn more from Joanne Davis about how marketers can unlock the full potential of their agency partnerships, watch the video interview on Internationalist Marketing TV (IMTV) on YouTube by CLICKING HERE.
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In our conversation, we discuss the following:
- Tell us about the idea behind your new book…
- Why focus on client-agency issues now, especially regarding “good” and “bad” client behavior? Do you feel that the industry is at a particular inflection point?
- Essentially, your book helps marketers become better clients to their agencies. Why aren’t clients coached to work effectively with agencies? With all the money that goes into producing advertising, why do you think companies aren’t training their people in agency management?
- Do you have a favorite part of the book? Or a section that you feel is pivotal or most useful to readers?
- Although the title assumes that marketers are the target for the book, what can an agency executive or an assigned team learn from reading your advice?
- Your focus is mainly on creative agencies. Talk about the relevance of your book for media agency relationships.
- What can procurement learn from this book?
- You do have a chapter on Money and Payment Terms. Are the money issues getting more challenging?
- One of your hallmark phrases and industry sessions is “Can this marriage be saved?” Talk briefly about that in today’s business environment.
- What do you see ahead for the industry, especially given the acceleration of technologies?
- Writing a book is always a significant undertaking. However, we often learn as much about ourselves as we do about our subject matter. What did you take away from this experience?
Listen to Joanne Davis discuss her new book and to The Internationalist’s entire Trendsetters podcast series here on iHeartRadio’s Spreaker or wherever you download your podcasts.
This essential little volume is designed to provide real-life examples, succinct advice, and actionable lessons to time-starved marketers, procurement managers new to the advertising category, and agency leaders who want to teach their clients how to create a win.
How to Get Your Agency to Run Through Brick Walls—Without Paying More… should be a constant reference on the desks of every client and agency executive. It would undoubtedly improve relationships, save money, and produce better work.
REVIEWS
Joanne Davis has always been a leader in client and agency management. She’s one of the only consultants who tries to save the marriage before starting a review. I’m so happy that more leaders are writing on this important topic. I learned from writing my books that it’s harder than it looks, and Joanne has summarized important lessons in a helpful little book that’s a fun read about serious matters. I highly recommend it to marketers, procurement managers, and agencies alike who are trying to get more out of their relationship and build trust together.
-Jared Belsky, best-selling author of ‘You Get the Agency You Deserve,’ and ‘The Great Client Partner.’
If Joanne Davis were a law firm, she’d be called Frank, Kind & Wise — but lucky for us, Joanne has dedicated her talents to helping we marketers create the kind of relationships that make all the difference. Read this book and cherish its advice, advice that’s made me a better marketer and, honestly, a better human.
– Michael Fanuele, best-selling author of ‘Stop Making Sense, The Art of Inspiring Anybody,’ and former Chief Creative Officer of General Mills.
With ‘How to Get Your Agency to Run through Brick Walls,’ Joanne Davis has created the definitive playbook for elevating agency relationships. Her practical advice on everything from briefing to financial management will empower marketing executives to unleash their agencies’ full creative potential and drive market growth.
– Allen Adamson, best-selling author of ‘Seeing the How,’ ‘BrandSimple,’ and ‘The Edge: 50 Tips from Brands that Lead.’
Joanne Davis, whose clients over the past 20+ years have been big-spending advertisers, has written an astonishingly frank book about the shortcomings that advertisers bring to their relationships with agencies. Bravo, Joanne! In a brief 75 pages, she identifies fourteen “Bad Behaviors” of advertisers that prevent agencies from doing their best work. Offsetting the Bad Behaviors are recommendations for Good Behaviors, commented on in insightful ways by Davis. If advertisers take her recommendations to heart, we should see a major increase in the effectiveness of advertising in this troubled industry, which has been marked by low sales growth for advertised products.
– Michael Farmer, author of ‘Madison Avenue Manslaughter,’ and ‘Madison Avenue Makeover.’
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Joanne Davis founded Joanne Davis Consulting, Inc. in 2000 and became a partner in SCAN International in 2006 and is currently Co-CEO. The consulting firm specializes in agency models, marketing client and agency optimization, agency search and compensation management, and marketing coaching and training. Consulting clients include and have included many of the largest in the world: the U.S. Department of Defense, BMS, Dunkin’, ExxonMobil, Ford Motor Company, IBM, Intel, Hilton Worldwide, Johnson & Johnson, Macy’s, Microsoft, MillerCoors, Pfizer, Subway Restaurants and TD Bank.
Earlier she was acting CMO for the U.S. Department of Defense and started her career on the agency-side ultimately as an agency president and board member.
A well-known speaker and writer, Joanne has spoken on four continents for such organizations as 4A’s, ANA, IAA World Congress, Festival of Media, ISM and the American Advertising Federation. She was invited to join the faculty of the ANA in 2004 and also is a member of their “Ask the Experts” advisors. She has coached thousands of marketing and procurement executives.
