• Ad Age, Monday, April 26, 2010 10:49 AM

Observers offer a lot of reasons why the agency-client relationship seems to be at an all time low -- the 7.5% dip in agency revenue just being one symptom of the malaise -- from the rise of social media to the cost-cutting zealots known as procurement officers. Meanwhile, everybody is getting into everybody else's business. It's not a pretty picture. So, Ad Age canvassed experts across the industry for cures and brings it all together in it first "Agency" Issue.

"When the agency doesn't know where it stands or if the client believes in it, it becomes dysfunctional," says Jim Stengel, former global CMO for Procter & Gamble. "Most clients today want to pay less for doing the same job they would have five years ago," says David Jones, global CEO of Havas Worldwide and Euro RSCG Worldwide.

Meanwhile, Kimberly-Clark CMO Tony Palmer identifies five areas that need immediate action. No. 5 is that while "the industry is outstanding at public pronouncements and debates about trends and the impending need for change," basically there's no execution. Agencies need to cease being so "inward-focused and insular," he says, and clients need to stop enabling them.

Read the whole story at Ad Age »