Part Two of Two
In our first installment of "Sizing Up Agencies" (PRN, May 20), we investigated the pros and cons of working with small agencies and debunked some of the myths and stereotypes
surrounding smaller firms. In this final installment, we'll take a look at some of the larger firms (more than $1 million in revenues) and uncover the advantages and disadvantages
of working with a big-name shop. Plus, you'll hear from the folks who disagree with our approach in this series. Their claim: Size doesn't matter.
Pros for a Large Agency
Money, Money, Money. Large firms simply have more cash available to invest in employees, technology and other resources to serve your needs. The PR giants, often owned by
holding companies, have access to the cashflow they need to weather tough times and support them through growth periods.
Depth of Experience. "We had a startup client a couple of years ago that was very small and didn't have offices anywhere else," says Dushka Zapata, SVP in Edelman's Silicon
Valley office. The client didn't anticipate needing anything but the expertise of the agency's high-tech practice - until its co-founder ended up in jail on fraud charges. The
firm had been highly publicized in technology and business publications across the country. But now it needed an entirely different variety of expertise. "We had people from our
Chicago crisis management team put together a program in 12 hours," Zapata says. The story never made the papers.
Employees of large firms take issue with the contention that they don't offer clients the broad scope of resources they promise in their new business pitches. Although some
former clients claim getting a teammate from one profit center to help out with an issue in another profit center is next to impossible, others have experienced just the opposite.
Dave Samson, VP of international PR for Oracle, says a large firm "can quickly mobilize 60 people from around the agency."
A Broad Range of Expertise. This translates to expertise with a variety of vertical industries, as well, Samson says. "One thing technology clients can do a better job of
is telling customer stories. An industry that has done very well with that is the pharmaceutical industry with patient stories. Large agencies have best practices from multiple
clients. A boutique won't have that breadth of [industries]."
Conversely, it's more than likely that a large agency will have experience specific to your own industry, if not an entire practice area devoted to it. "We have launched a
pharmaceutical product, we have supported a client through merger and acquisition, we have done celebrity placements," says Sara Gavin, president of the Minneapolis office of
Weber Shandwick.
Geographic Reach. For a truly global program, you'll likely need a truly global agency. "Larger agencies network amongst their own people," says MaryLee Sachs, president
and CEO of Hill and Knowlton in the United States. "We are aware of the things going on in other parts of the world, and are able to bring things that affect our clients to the
table."
"Large agencies adopt a 'follow-the-sun' model," says Samson. "One part of the world can monitor the media while another part of the world sleeps. By the time I get to my desk,
I can be briefed on what's going on in other parts of the world that will affect me."
Technological Resources. "Large agencies have the wherewithal to invest in proprietary tools," says Weber Shandwick's Gavin. Weber Shandwick uses Weber Works, a client
management tool that allows various teams working on major client projects to collaborate and manage the many aspects of that client's program. Larger agencies can also invest
more in research and measurement tools, some of the key resources in today's market.
"We are able to build proprietary databases," says Ketchum CEO Dave Drobis. "The amount we spend on knowledge sharing systems to make sure our people in Beijing are as up to
speed on things as our people in New York and San Francisco" far exceeds what smaller agencies can afford to spend, he says.
Investment in Talent. Employees of large firms are often exposed to more formal PR education and professional development initiatives than employees at small firms. "Our
talent has the advantage of significant training programs," says Gavin.
Cons for a Large Agency
The Profit Center Model. "This is self-imposed," says Oracle's Samson. "If you can break down the model of how you account for income and figure out ways to draw upon the
best people regardless of where they reside, you can beat this problem."
Ironically, this model is most obvious during tough economic times when service really counts. "People are trying to protect their best people and build profit margins. But it
doesn't always translate into the best thing for the client."
Junior Staffers Do Legwork. It's inevitable in a large firm that any account team will include junior staffers who will do much of the grunt work - i.e. pitching the
media, managing important events.
But sometimes this can be an advantage in disguise, according to Samson. "You can get access to the senior folks with the experience, but they're not always the best people to
execute your campaign. In a big agency, there are more arms and legs to work on the execution."
Formulaic Approaches. Larger agencies' zeal for creating best practices to share across the agency can sometimes result in a "standardized" approach to every account. But
that's not to say that creativity doesn't thrive within large agencies. "I can't imagine that any large agency couldn't stand up in comparison to smaller shops on creativity with
the scope of people working [at large firms] and the scope of their experience," Sachs says.
You'll Be One of Many. Large agencies certainly support many, many more clients than small boutique shops. Rather than being one of two or four clients, you'll be one of
hundreds, from every industry and of every size. But while the stereotypical view is that the cash cows get the lion's share of the agency's attention, that's not the case, says
Dave Senay, regional president and senior partner with Fleishman-Hillard in St. Louis. "It might surprise people to know that only about 10 percent of our clients are more than
$250,000 a year in revenue, and we're a $350 million global agency. Our company is made up of very nimble, fleet-footed entrepreneurial units that are building
relationships."
Does Size Matter?
The answer is a resounding "no" from many sources in the PR industry. "At the end of the day, the proof of the pudding is in the tasting," quips Fleishman-Hillard's Senay. "If
the client likes what they're tasting, you'll find they're pretty size-agnostic."
"There are more important issues about effectiveness, efficiency and bottom line performance," says Andy Getsey, co-founder and CEO of Atomic PR in San Francisco. "Large
agencies are becoming very nimble and able to focus, and small agencies are figuring out how to integrate a resource set to rival a large firm."
The savvy client knows that size is only one factor in an array of issues that make or break an agency relationship. Most critical is the account team assigned to your project
and the chemistry you share with that team.
Tad Druart, VP and GM for Pierpont Communications, has worked on the client side for Dell, and is now experiencing life on the agency side. "It is more important to focus on
the need and then determine if the size matters." He says the more important questions are:
- Can I trust the firm?
- Are they committed to excellence on my behalf?
- Do they care about my business, my people and me?
(Contacts: Zapata, 650/968-4033; Samson, [email protected]; Gavin, 952/832-5000; Sachs, 212/885-0363; Drobis, [email protected]; Senay, 314/982-1777; Getsey, 415/703-9454; Druart, [email protected])