Lets take Indonesia as an example. It was reported in Media Asia (sister site to Brand Republic) that the Indonesian Advertising Agencies Association are proposing to their members that they get pitch fees mandated from 2008.
They have drawn up a blueprint which recommends (amongst other things) that advertisers can only invite up to a maximum of 5 agencies to pitch for a piece of business and furthermore all agencies will be paid a minimum of 5 million rupiah (about 300 quid) for their participation.
In fairness, it's not a huge sum of money (probably just enough to pay for the photocopier paper). Still, it's the principle that counts and I guess something is better than nothing.
The reaction to the proposal in Indonesia has been rather 'mixed' shall we say. Most advertisers, it is reported, are not exactly keen on the idea although a few clients (such as Unilever and P&G) welcomed the move.
What is possibly more surprising was the lukewarm reaction the proposal has had from agencies themselves. They seem to regard the initiative as well intentioned but ultimately not practicable. Why ? Well, one anonymous agency source summed it up as follows:
"It's hard to tell clients what to do... if you ask them to pay pitch fees there are a hundred other agencies willing to do the job without a fee"
And there lies the problem. Unless everyone agrees to participate the model is flawed. And if the markets out here are anything like the UK then there will always be an agency who are prepared to sacrifice a code of conduct in order to secure an account.
Steve Blakeman
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Member since: 03 Jun 2008
Last login: 27 Oct 2008
Total Posts: 59
