An agency/client relationship is salvaged and optimized
Moving from Breakdown to Partnership
Situation
A major pharmaceutical company had a bad relationship with their advertising agency partner on one of their key billion dollar brands. Rather than terminate the agency and start the agency selection process over again, the team decided that they needed an outside party to get to the root of the problem and suggest solutions.
Solution
It was unclear what the source—or combination of sources—of the difficulty was—whether interpersonal dynamics, team interactions or operational issues were contributing to the problems. The only consensus was that neither was happy with the relationship … and the tensions were escalating.
Twenty-three team members—both management and staff--of both partners were interviewed confidentially. It quickly became clear that both sides agreed on the 3 areas of difficulty—team leadership, staffing and communication—although there were nuances in how they perceived the issues. Because the relationship was becoming contentious it was difficult for the different individuals to hear what their partners were saying. Debriefs were held with the key players individually to ensure that each person understood their role in the issue as well as the assumptions that had been made on both sides.
Result
As a result of the intervention, both parties accepted responsibility for the breakdown in the relationship and committed to making changes in how they dealt with each other. An action plan was generated and the agency has consistently been able to achieve the top ranking in the biyearly agency evaluation.
Three years later the relationship is still in force.
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