From all the time I’ve spent battling clients and myopic
visions that do not allow one stroke beyond the lines of the box, it’s always
been interesting to see just how big a set of balls a client has regarding the
quality of work versus time allotted, and more importantly, what they are willing to
pay.
I’ve worked with clients that laugh at the notion of the
word cheapskate because they’ve mastered the art of penny-pinching and getting
more than what they pay for leaving that small word much too dwarfed by their assholeness. What strikes me particularly odd is the venom in
their voice when they see that a generic royalty free picture they requested
was used by another brand. They scream hellfire and brimstone because how could
that happen, they PAID for that photo.
Which brings us to explaining that Royalty Free is not a
style or brand of images, it refers to the ability of anyone to use the photo
because it is not an exclusive picture…. yada, yada, yada --- there are royalties that other images pay, making it as we said before, exclusive... yada, yada, yada… and that THIS picture is free of
royalties. After they finally get it, some may even ask what a rights managed
image is and how much it costs… that’s the fun part because you get to see just
how wide their eyes open and how they calm down when they see the price… well sort of.
That’s when they demand an elaborate concept (which the
agency doesn’t support) to be developed, thirty hours are spent on a single
layout… they don’t like it, and say thanks but no thanks, we'll go with the first option you worked on 3 weeks ago… and all is quiet…
until they get the fee for hours worked… and back to hellfire and brimstone.
Clients like this exist and they suck on every level, which
brings us to another question… why does the agency keep a low paying, low
profile high problem client on their portfolio? Simple… because advertising
sucks, and we’re here to remind you as often as possible.
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