Hasta La Creative!

“Fraud” is a very strong accusation, and that’s why this column in the Agency Post, written by Deborah Fisher of Response Mine Interactive got my attention.

Fisher provides the all-too-common view of timesheets in the agency world:

Driven by the need to bill clients in a timely manner, the accounting department nips at the heels of the corporate flock to convert its man-hours into billable client time for invoicing, only to walk away each month that much more disenfranchised by their co-workers. No wonder no one wants to work in accounting.

I’ve never had much of a problem doing my timesheets, even daily if it was asked for, but the real problem is that billable hours don’t provide much guidance into how completely, or how creatively, any job in an agency gets done. We’re basically working in a factory where no two products made are ever alike.

And timesheets have been the bane of contention at many agencies I’ve worked at. The mediocre agencies, especially. Because agencies need to make money, and if jobs take too many billable hours to complete, the agency loses money. But it’s very difficult to predict how long complex jobs will take — particularly ones where multiple concepts are needed and the creative bar is high. So if a copywriter or art director decide they need more time, or the CD demands that the work needs more time, it’s a problem. At a certain point, it’s “pencils up, you’re out of time.” Whether the ads are any good or not. The creative desire to make the work great (when it involves nights, weekends, or more time in general) comes at a price in a timesheet-dependent agency.

It’s also a no-win situation for creatives: Bill less hours than needed to be profitable, and management complains. Bill more time than allotted, and management also complains. I’ve witnessed this numerous times.

What Fisher doesn’t speak to is exactly how her agency now charges its clients. All she says is that the agency is now on a “fixed billing” system, without defining how it works. Might be a fine idea, given that most of an agency’s staff is a fixed cost. Agencies need to make money, clients need great work and should be willing to pay a fair amount for it. Timesheets clearly get in the way of that at many agencies.

Is the timesheet system “fraud” though? As I said, it’s a strong term. Timesheets are not 100% spot-on accurate, that’s for sure. But only the agency management knows whether it’s truly overcharging clients. Either way, it’s always the rank-and-file agency employees that are at fault when the timesheet system fails. Although it’s more of a sign of mediocre leadership and processes.

Does your agency use other methods than timesheets? What’s a better solution?

The post Timesheets Are A Problem At Mediocre Agencies. But Are They Fraud? appeared first on AdPulp.

We’re getting word from those in the know that Arc Worldwide, the marketing services arm of Leo Burnett, has lost its retail agency duties for Comcast’s high-speed internet/digital TV unit Xfinity, which was launched by NBC Universal’s parent over three years ago. We’ve put in inquiries to the comms/biz folks at Xfinity (still not sure about that name), but from what we’ve been told on the Spy line, the review has begun and RFP’s have already been sent out to other agencies.

Arc’s relationship with Comcast on retail marketing dates back six years, when it was named a partner on said component by the media giant. Comcast’s move seems kind of odd considering that Arc won big at the Outstanding Marketing at Retail Achievement Awards a few months ago. Anyhow, we’ll fill in the blanks if we hear more from the client as the agency isn’t providing comment.

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It looks like MRY is on a senior-level staffing streak of sorts. Less than three weeks after bringing on AKQA alum Ian Chee as chief strategy officer and simultaneously promoting Matt Rednor to chief innovation officer, the NYC-based shop formerly known as Mr. Youth has appointed David Berkowitz as its first-ever CMO. Berkowitz joins MRY after spending seven-and-a-half years at Dentsu-owned agency, 360i, where he last served as VP of emerging media and worked with brands including Kraft, H&R Block and Bravo.

Regarding the hiring of Berkowitz, who has also moonlighted as an online marketing columnist for the likes of Mediapost during his career, MRY CEO Matt Britton says in a statement, ““David has a proven track record of seeing what’s just around the corner and creatively applying it for the world’s leading brands for more than a decade; in addition to being a riveting thought leader with a standout industry pedigree, there is no doubt that he will raise the bar for our team and our client partners.”

Current client partners at MRY, which of course merged with LBi this year, include Coca-Cola, Symantec and Neutrogena.

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Well, what wasn’t posted in reports about the current status about the G2/Ogilvy action merger was this clip that comes to us via the operation’s Facebook page. Here was the note that preceded it: “It’s official … We Are Geometry Global! Want to learn more about the world’s largest activation agency?” Considering were more adept at algebra versus geometry, we’re heartbroken, but while we cry, here’s a statement:

“Geometry Global will be an autonomous network within WPP. With headquarters in London and New York, it comprises G2, Grey Group’s activation agency, OgilvyAction, Ogilvy & Mather’s activation business and JWTAction, JWT’s shopper marketing and experiential agency. JWTAction is itself a joint venture between JWT and OgilvyAction in the United States and will retain its autonomy within Geometry Global.”

 

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We’ve received confirmation that Havas Discovery, a network with a handful of offices ranging from Baltimore to Toronto, has parted ways with managing director Chris Oliver, who had served head of the agency’s CRM practice for three years. Oliver was based out of the Baltimore office of Discovery, which serves as the data, analytics, digital and CRM arm of the holding company that has worked with past and present clients including Chase, Sonic and Liberty Mutual.

Prior to his most recent gig, Oliver spent several years as a client partner at what was EHS 4D and worked as account director at TBWA\Tequila for nearly five years before that. No word yet on a replacement for Oliver at Havas Discovery, which recently promoted current president Paul Marobella to a larger role as group president, a title that now calls for him to also oversee ops at experiential agency Havas Impact and brand agency, Palm + Havas.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Well, after some cuts here and a shuttering there, we finally have some positive news to report in 2013 about iCrossing, mainly that the Hearst-owned digital agency has promoted six-year vet Brian Powley to global president. Powley, who initially joined iCrossing in 2007 to manage the agency’s San Francisco office before taking on the role of chief client officer and subsequently president of its North American operations. Powley takes over for president/CEO Don Scales, who’s leaving iCrossing after seven years at the helm.

Prior to his joining iCrossing, which currently counts 18 global offices and clients including Beam, Coca-Cola, Pep Boys and FedEx (but no DirecTV?), Powley held managing director positions on the West Coast at both MRM and what was then Modem Media.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Today, health insurer Aetna is launching a new campaign themed, “What’s Your Healthy?” Created by Arnold Worldwide and Digitas, the campaign seeks to do what so many health insurance providers are trying to accomplish: Engage their customers and get them to be “proactive” about their healthcare. Pushing healthy habits ultimately reduces healthcare costs, so it’s not shocking to see most insurers focusing their messages there.

There’s nothing overly remarkable about this campaign, except to add that it’s being launched with a $50 million budget. I suspect we’ve barely begun to see all the advertising and marketing efforts healthcare providers and health insurance companies are set to launch.

With the new Affordable Care Act (i.e., Obamacare) gradually being rolled out, individual states being tasked with providing health exchange marketplaces so consumers can compare and purchase plans for themselves, and employers rethinking the coverage they provide to their workers, it’s going to be a mad rush for revenue. And it’s a huge opportunity for advertising agencies and other firms to get in on the spending.

Healthcare marketing is crowded field with a lot of similarity in the messaging and very little boldness. So who’s out there doing a great job of healthcare marketing? What’s the ultimate message insurers need to send? Will hospitals and health systems need to up their marketing game now, too? Will consumers simply be too confused and overwhelmed with marketing to make the best choices?

The post Healthcare Marketing Is Growing Like A Pubescent Teenager appeared first on AdPulp.

Usually, city rivalries related to sporting match-ups involve wacky wagers from politicians. The mayor of City X wants 100 pounds of cheese from the governor of City Y if City X wins the Super Bowl. But for the 2013 Stanley Cup between the Boston Bruins and the Chicago Blackhawks, the wacky wagers are getting social and, well, smack-talky. The folks over at Arnold Boston and Leo Burnett in Chicago are using the Stanley Cup to launch their own trash-talking competition for charity: The Smackley Cup. Agency employees and random fans from all over are encouraged to tweet using #smacktalkboston or #smacktalkchicago. Once the series concludes, the agency supporting the loser of the Stanley Cup will have to donate 10 cents per tweet and retweet to a charity AND wear the opposing team’s sweater in the office the following day. That sort of masochism always makes for fun water cooler talk.

continued…

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What do you know, less than a week after we chatted with Steve Bernstein, president of Kansas City-based Bernstein Rein, and were told that his agency’s relationship with longtime client Commerce Bank was basically intact, the Kansas City Business Journal reports that the financial institution has indeed cut the cord. Well, Bernstein did tell us at the time, through somewhat cryptically, that Commerce was undergoing a “strategic change” and thus, a “relationship change” was in order.

We’re trying to get some additional comment on the matter from Bernstein himself, as we’ve been deluged with tips not only pertaining to Commerce, which worked with B-R for 14 years, but the actual staff count at the agency, which we were told at the time was 220. A horde of tipsters, though, say that it’s basically half that. We’re hoping to get some clarification on the matter today, and we’ll keep you posted.

Update: Well, we asked and we’ve been told by Bernstein himself that the “strategic change that Commerce informed us of was that given that there would not be any creative needs for the account in the near future, they would not be requiring our creative services. They would only be needing our media services through at least the end of third quarter.” We’ve been told that this has not changed in spite of the review. Bernstein adds, “They are a good client with good people. We do wish them luck in their future and we will be involved with them as long as they need.”

As far as staffing goes, despite what several of you have been telling us, Bernstein says that payroll sits at 220 associates and there will be no reductions in B-R staff as a result of the Commerce decision.

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Yes, we saw the news when it first broke. Sorry if we were lagging on this, folks, but we were looking into another facet of the big Cadillac news today that wasn’t mentioned. Anyhow, what more can we say that hasn’t been reported already regarding the automaker’s decision. Well, save for the fact that despite what tipsters have been saying ad nauseum regarding the status of certain higher-ups at Campbell Ewald, sources familiar with the matter us tell us that the executive team at said agency “remains in place.”

Anyhow, if you were MIA this morning, the Crain committee including AdAge has reported that GM has finally made its decision and has expanded its relationship with IPG (McCann took over on Chevy-focused Commonwealth in March, if you recall), tapping a handful of its agencies (dubbed collectively as, ugh, Rogue) to assume ad duties on the Cadillac business. Among those in the mix are Hill Holliday, which saw its longtime Liberty Mutual go into review but will now handle creative/strategy (even steven, we say), while CE will handle account management and Lowe will take on digital/creative export for the brand. You know the rest of the story for now, but we’ll keep checking on the rest of what we hear.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.