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Why Choosing the Right Agency Matters

 -  4 min read

We work in Chicago, where there’s no shortage of agencies competing for client business. We like to say that you can stand on any corner in the city, throw a stone and hit a building that houses an agency that does fantastic work for Kraft, SC Johnson, or PepsiCo—great agencies that have deep experience moving toothpaste or bug spray off grocery store shelves. But not every client needs a consumer-products agency, but many people assume that’s all there is.

What surprises me is how often clients who are in non-CPG categories decide that these CPG agencies can take their primary expertise and move it into branding, or healthcare, or financial services, or any of the many other non-tangible categories. When I’ve had the opportunity to review the agencies we’re up against when making a pitch to a service-related organization, I find myself perplexed by the wide variety of agency expertise being considered. (Much of it, in fact, is in CPG.)

Maybe variety is what clients are looking for—perhaps they’re looking to compare and contrast different types of resources. That’s fair, and that level of research is most certainly warranted. But that being said, I believe that experience should trump all.

It’s beneficial to look at the way in which we define experience. Because of today’s current client competitive restrictions, an agency is often unable to work within the industry of a retained client. But instead of being a roadblock, this can actually act as a spot for opportunity. I’ve seen numerous times how powerful strategies used in hospitality can be successfully applied to a client in the health-care field. Or vice versa. This type of cross-pollination abounds. And though each client is completely unique, we can take aspects of things that have worked from previous clients and apply them to this new one, even if they exist in another sector of the service industry. It’s much more difficult to make this move from CPG to service brand.

CPG is, was and always will be the bellwether for the advertising industry. There are agencies that now take up entire city blocks because of their proficiency in moving consumer products. But that doesn’t mean that they’ll be just as adroit at increasing member retention for an association, say, or growing customer satisfaction for a bank. Many agencies have their niche, and it’s vital that an organization searching for a new agency understands that, and looks for an agency that understands them in return.