Wednesday Morning Meeting for December 9, 2009:

Outrageous Client Requests

In the last two months, our agency has seen an up tick in RFPs being issued for creative and media buying services—that’s the good news…now, here’s the catch:

It’s becoming the norm for clients (prospective and otherwise) to try to squeeze blood from a stone. Case in point: I’m aware of a multitude of entities that are looking to conduct 12-26 week state-wide radio campaigns with budget that would make The Queen’s Royal Guards laugh; I’ve even seen budgets as low at $30,000. Fine if you live in Rhode Island where you can see one end of the state from the other (not really), but dangerous for larger states with multiple markets and varying demographic trends.

So, why are agencies even dealing with these small accounts? Essentially, many small and mid-sized agencies need the cash flow. So, the station should be prepared to play ball and help make the impossible work. Small accounts do turn into larger ones with the right results. And when you think that your favorite media buyer has lost his or her mind: you’re right, they have. This blood from a stone trend isn’t going away anytime soon.

As always, I welcome your thoughts. Please e-mail me: bknight@harrison-edwardspr.com or follow me on Twitter @BobKnightAdMan

Next week: Your e-mails from the “FTC Wednesday Morning Meeting Mailbag”

Bob Knight is Vice President, Advertising and Digital Media with Harrison Edwards PR & Marketing in New York and oversees the company’s advertising and HEdigital divisions, which include podcasting, webcasting, blogging; and print, electronic, and broadcast advertising and media buying. Prior to joining Harrison Edwards in 2005, Bob worked for some of the nation’s largest broadcasting companies, successfully developing programming in some of the most competitive markets including Chicago and San Francisco; his stations and shows were consistently top-rated. In addition to Bob’s work as program director and on-air personality at AMFM, Inc., Clear Channel Communications, Citadel Broadcasting, Entercom, and NextMedia Group, he served as a consultant to Internet radio stations during the dot com boom. Bob’s national and regional radio commercials have won a Gold Clarion Award (AWC) and Gold “Big W” Awards (Ad Club) for commercials he produced. In 2008, Bob was named a “Rising Star Forty Under Forty” by the Business Council of Westchester and is a graduate of Leadership Westchester (Class of 2009).