Client Relations

The info you need to maintain good relations with your clients, including tips on improving account longevity, trends in agency-client relationships, and more.

A relationship management program helps build essential trust at every step of the agency-client relationship.  The 4A’s Relationship Management Best Practices Guidance explains how it’s done.

The ANA/4A’s Business Case for Relationship Management reveals how clients and agencies both feel about the benefits of such a program.

4A’s Relationship Management Best Practices Guidance

2020 ANA 4A’s Business Case for Relationship Management

Find additional information on maintaining good relations with your clients, including tips on improving account longevity, trends in agency-client relationships, and more, below.

Maximizing Client-Agency Relationships

A CMO’s Wake-up Call

CMOs desperately need to shift their mindset from focusing on who the right partner is to how to operate and make any partnership successful.

Sample Job Descriptions

Relationship management is how you keep winning after you’ve won. 4A’s Relationship Management Best Practices Guidance is your new playbook.

The CMO Survey

Duke’s semi-annual survey collects the opinions of top marketers to predict the future of markets, track marketing spending, and improve the value of marketing in firms and society.

Hidden Costs of Changing Partners

Bruno Gralpois highlights key findings of the ANA/4A’s The Cost of the Pitch and shares his expertise in the agency review process.

Cost of the Pitch: surprising insights that may make you rethink the process

As a follow-up to the ANA/4A’s Agency Search Simplification Report, both organizations felt it would be beneficial for clients and agencies to understand the actual costs involved in the agency review/pitch process. Agencies historically devote significant resources into the pursuit of new business and to the defense of an existing account when it is put […]

Creating Agency KPIs

Bruno Gralpois of Agency Mania Solutions proposes we evaluate the 3-letter acronym KPI to foster better client-agency relationships.

CMO Tenure Study: An Expanded View of CMO Tenure and Backgrounds

Spencer Stuart’s annual CMO Tenure Study finds that the average tenure for chief marketing officers continues to decrease.

The Strength of Agency Holding Companies

Learn how the exceptional financial and operational progress of agency holding companies will impact brand advertisers in the future.

The Future of AI in Client/Agency Relationships

Read about AI tools, ethical and legal issues, and their impact on the client-agency relationship in this article from Agency Mania Solutions.

CMO Navigator 2022

Priorities, challenges, strategies, and mindsets of CMOs in America and Canada are featured in this new survey series from dentsu.   

Strategies to Make Your Agency Data-Driven

Venkata Bhonagiri of Mindshare provides best practices to transform your agency into a data-driven organization.

When Chaos Calls, Will Your Partnership Thrive or Dive?

Bruno Gralpois of Agency Mania Solutions outlines five steps marketers can do to build a lasting, rewarding partnership during this chaotic time.

Should Advertisers Still Care About Agency Awards?

Bruno Gralpois of Agency Mania Solutions outlines how clients and agencies benefit from awards.

The Best Way for a Client to Brief an Agency

This guide from the IPA aims to help marketers write better briefs for ad agencies and create a shared understanding of what constitutes a good brief.

Intergrated 2030 | Future of Integrated Marketing |

R3 explores the factors that are moving brands toward new agency models.

Are You Ready for a Record Year of Breakups and Honeymoons in 2022?

Agency Mania Solutions’ Bruno Gralpois outlines his top agency wins and breakups of 2021 and identifies eight trends that he sees as a result of such agency-client changes. 

A Glimpse at the Future of Advertiser/Agency Relationships

Bruno Gralpois of Agency Mania Solutions examines current industry trends and developments that will impact how we partner with agencies in the year ahead.

New Year Outlook | 2022 Survey Report |

RSW/US highlights marketing trends, challenges, and predictions based on a survey of both marketers and agencies.

Aligning Your Roster to Your Model

Take a look at the most frequently asked questions from brand leaders about their agency rosters in this article by Bruno Gralpois of Agency Mania Solutions.

The Chicken and the Egg Dilemma

Read about the most common agency behaviors and performance issues encountered by top brand advertisers and what role the brand many have played.

Together, Committed to a Better World

Bruno Gralpois of Agency Mania Solutions discusses the importance of higher standard business practices in the agency selection process.

The Organized Feedback Framework

Bruno Gralpois of Agency Mania Solutions walks us through a multi-dimensional approach to leveraging all feedback opportunities to drive improvement of client-agency partnerships.

Unlearning Common Misconceptions About Agencies

Marketers have been conditioned to accept some ideas about ad agencies that are false, according to Bruno Gralpois from Agency Mania Solutions. These misconceptions are getting in the way of effective client-agency partnerships.

The First Step to Long Term Pharmaceutical Client Retention

OpenHuddle provides relationship management best practices for healthcare agencies.