Melbourne Herald Sun, February 25, 2011
Ask anyone who has spent a few years before the mast in advertising agencies. After the second beer the stories will start to come out: of unscrupulous clients who have ripped off their ideas.
The problem is with the way the ad business works. A client will ask three or four agencies to prepare a proposal for their new year's campaign.
The agencies then draw up their advertising plans, and produce some creative ideas that they hope will thrill the client and win the business. But by revealing your idea, you have already played your ace.
Now, I've known large companies where they have hired one agency on its marketing plans - but they really liked the other agency's creative ideas.
So then surprise surprise, the winning agency's campaign runs - and at the centre of it, your clever commercial or slogan in slightly different guise.
Was it theft or did the winning shop luck on the same idea for their presentation? You’ll never know and it’s very rarely that anyone ever sues.
In the US they are having a row over another variation on this eternal problem. Huge department store chain Sears Roebucks has called for pitches for its $500 million account. Very tasty.
However, one fly in the ointment has seen huge agencies like DDB, Leo Burnett and TBWA refuse to take part. Sears wants participants to sign an agreement relinquishing the rights to any materials or ideas they produce - whether they win the business or not.
You can hear the screams from Madison Avenue to the Bronx. "Unreasonable," says McCann Erickson's Mitch Caplan: "It's unfair for any client to expect ownership with no compensation for the agencies."
Especially considering that for a pitch of this size any agency would be spending well over $100,000 preparing it.
Pam Kaplan was Creative Director at Badjar for many years and lived through many pitches. “I found that in the last ten years we have become very upfront about this,” she recalls. “Clients would agree on a figure to pay you for a pitch.”
Veteran art director Glyn Ramsay recalled a canned fish account he once pitched for. Another agency won - but later their idea emerged, for another of the company’s products. “And they didn’t pay us for our creative. What are you going to do?”
It’s hard to take because in the long run, “That’s all we have to sell,” mused Ramsay. He believes a big agency should charge a client at least $30,000 for a creative submission.
Should advertisements be covered by copyright? “I think it’s going to go that way,” says Kaplan. “Photographers and illustrators don’t allow you to own the work - you pay for the use of it.”
So it should be with advertising, she says, “They should pay us according to how many times they want to use it.”
One of the greatest pains in the business comes when you lose the account - but they continue to run the ads you created. You see them on TV every night and know you’re not getting a cent for your idea.
Tony White of White Advertising and Beyond, is philosophical. Years ago his previous agency created “You’re lucky you’re with AAMI”. The account has long moved on - but the words are still everywhere to be seen. Millions are still being spent promoting them, but White doesn’t see a cent.
As for Sears, he would not sign their pitch contract - “But if they pay for it, then it’s a different ball game.”
Another agency head believes it comes down to professionalism. “Compensation says that the client respects and values the intellectual property agencies create.”
We all want to be respected the next morning.
ray@ebeatty.com
