Ad agency life is a perpetual job interview. The quest for new business is never ending and the lifeblood of an agency is always tied to seeking, sourcing and winning new business. But for every agency that wins a new account, another won has inevitably lost one. In ad agency parlance, the review, the competition for new contracts, is a time of excitement and forlorn risk.
When an ad agency is invited into a review, it usually means that the company holding the review is seeking a new ad agency. The sad fact is that incumbents in reviews- the agency holding the current contract- is usually doomed for replacement. Sure, some companies hold reviews periodically to evaluate their ad agency status. But more often than not, the company has decided that its advertising has gone stale and is looking for new blood to liven things up.
Other times, reviews are predicated on the installment of a new marketing chief: a new broom in ad agency language. A new broom sweeps things away. Like the old agency, hired by the former marketing chief. Why is it a new marketing guru will immediately seek to replace the old agency? There are a lot of excuses, but it really boils down to a simple reason. The new marketing chief has been brought in to fix the company's marketing problem. Not enough sales, not enough brand recognition, not enough intensity in the marketing program. The new broom thinks he or she has a mandate to change things up. To better performance. To increase... well, fill in the blank.