• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, October 5, 2007

Nearly 70% of U.S. brand clients do not notify their agency partners before hiring other agencies, according to a survey of some 401 agencies conducted by SCAN International, a multinational consulting company, in cooperation with several partners, including New York-based Joanne Davis Consulting.

"Loyalty isn't what it used to be," remarked Joanne Davis during an AdForum conference on Thursday.

Furthermore, the U.S. percentage is considerably higher than the international average, which spanned between 50% and 80%.

The most important issue for agencies, according to the survey findings, is receiving sufficient strategic direction and briefings from clients. Unfortunately, agency respondents reported that more than a third of clients are weak in this exact area.

With regard to integration capabilities--another key area of concern for agencies--respondents again said more than a third of their clients are still performing weakly.

Another gripe that agencies have with clients is their penchant to ask for speculative creative work. According to SCAN's findings, agencies far prefer strategic pitches. That's because speculative creative work is compensated less than 15% of the time, and when it is, the compensation is considered insufficient more than 60% of the time.

According to David, building stronger relationships between clients and agencies is critical for their future success.

One predicament for agencies, however, is the fact that chief marketing officers presently have average life expectancies of about 22 months.

"The answer is to develop the relationship at all levels," according to David.

Other improvement areas cited by agencies include compensation, understanding agency processes, sharing information/data, and expertise/training.

In a somewhat heartening note, on the prioritized list of improvement areas for clients, agencies ranked trust near the bottom of the list at number nine.