Agencies Arm To Protect Idea Ownership

Fed up by the growing trend of marketers expecting agencies to cough up what amounts to free ideas, the American Association of Advertising Agencies has released a white paper with guidelines to help agencies limit the scope of idea ownership.

"CMO turnover has accelerated and the lifecycle of agency relationships is changing, so it is more important than ever for there to be a clear understanding of not just creative executions but of ideas and plans," said Tom Finneran, executive vice president-management division for the AAAAs. "Agencies need a written statement protecting their ideas."

While creating ads on spec in order to win new business has become commonplace, the agency group is worried about marketers now asking agencies to sign away all rights to speculative ads. And agency executives are concerned that marketers are using the pitch process not just to weed out agencies they don't want to hire, but "as a mechanism to generate a bank of ideas and materials."

advertisement

advertisement

At the same time, the AAAAs is urging agencies to take a much more direct role negotiating what charges the agency will be reimbursed for, urging them to make it clear that while it may bill the potential client for expenses related to the pitch, it is not selling the rights to the ideas it creates.

"Some clients of late had started to use these killer nondisclosure agreements that have morphed from straight nondisclosures during the review to adding language that goes along the lines of, 'By the way, we want you to assign the rights to your ideas and interest to us.' " Finneran added. "We feel that is ill advised and unequitable."

Instead, the association offers language that agencies can use to negotiate future compensation, if and when the marketer decides to use ideas that came its way during the pitch process. Download the white paper here .

Next story loading loading..