Agencies at receiving end, suffer reduced bottomline – Soji Odedina
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, First Katalyst, Soji Odedina has expressed dissatisfaction over agencies’ struggle to make ends-meet, stressing that agencies are being squeezed more and more, while their bottom-lines are being reduced. He said this during an exclusive interview with MARKETING EDGE regarding issues relating to agency, client, media and consumer relationships.
“I wish the partnership between agencies and clients can be better managed in such a way like it used to be back in the days,” he said.
He admitted that the business environment is dynamic and all parties need to follow up with the dynamism. While agreeing that the economy has shrunk due to Covid-19 pandemic, the First Katalyst boss said that at this period when everybody is trying to manage, clients’ decision to move from pre-paid to a longer time due to the fact that they are managing their cash-flow will have a negative impact on the agencies. He pleaded that, for the sake of quality, clients should begin to reconsider the maximum of thirty days as the minimum payment term.
For client-to-agency-to-consumer relationship, he stated that the reason why there is a relationship between the agency and the consumer are the brands, pointing out that if there is no product, there won’t be marketing.
He therefore charged brands to make the work of the agency easier by churning out quality products that deliver on the promise to consumers.
According to the agency boss, “a promise made is a promise delivered consistently”. “When you make a promise, you deliver it consistently. It is not that you make a product today, by the time the consumers buy the same product tomorrow, they begin to see a different taste, efficacy and quality. Fulfilling your product promise consistently is the real definition of branding.”
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