8 Different Agency Personas You Might Have Worked With!

The relationship between the client and the agency is often like that of Tom and Jerry. They agree to disagree and they know that one cannot function without the other. And this special relationship gives you most of the successful marketing campaigns that you see all around you! 

Through my experience of working with multiple agencies, I felt each one comes with their own USP and different personas too! Here are some of the types of agencies that you too have most likely worked with:

1. The Savior

This is the agency that is an expert at super fast turnarounds. They can execute installations, prints and props even if you give them a brief the night before. They know their USP and if you have worked long enough with them, they probably keep half the things ready, preempting requirements, just by experience!

2. The Question Bank

This agency enjoys grilling their client! They will have so many questions about everything that it feels like you are doing half of their work for them! Ok, so your target audience likes cats or dogs? Oh cats - male or female? Brown, white or black? Which breed? Oh, spare me! My audience just started liking dogs after all your questions! Well, at the end of it, you would not regret answering those queries, as the output will be right on target.

3. The Gold Digger

They probably know more about your company's funds that you do! Oh, you didn't like the creative- too bad! We will have to charge you for the rework. Oh, your requirement made us work over the weekend - we will have to charge you for the extra hours. However, their work is as extraordinary as their fees, so you will be ready to pay the premium.

4. The Sprinter

This agency has your account manager changing at the velocity of light. Before your contact person even starts action on the strategy brief, a new person takes over for you to brief! Stability of people is a constant issue and you are always wondering what is going on there. It is important to sort this issue out with the agency before it is too late!

5. The Procrastination Expert

This one will wait for your follow up to even sneeze! You have to put reminders in your calendar to remind them of the deliverable. Their outcome is your responsibility and their responsibility is to give you more responsibility. But when the "Birbal's Khichdi" finally arrives, it is definitely worth the wait!

6. The Push Back Masters

This agency will be an expert at saying "no". Their funda is simple - They have an end result in mind and they will tweak your brief to fit it in! After saying a no to everything you said, they will magically deliver an outcome that you would leave you spellbound!

7. The Portable Report Cards

These agencies will have so much data to throw at you that feel like you are drowning in it. However, they will be your richest resources when you are planning, forecasting and reviewing.

8. The Sesquipedalian

Yes, that means someone who uses complicated words. This agency will give you such cryptic presentations that you will need to decode every sentence. Confused as hell, you tend to agree with them most of the time!

A great relationship with an agency is the cog without which the wheel of marketing will find it tough to move. Agencies are the lifeline for executing campaigns at short notice, innovations, planning, execution, reporting, fancy presentations (there is hardly anything which would not have been ever outsourced to an agency!) This bittersweet relationship, if handled right, can do wonders for any company.

So, which one is yours? Or, which one are you?

These are my personal views and just based on my personal experience through the years