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Marketers unhappy with ‘biased, award-hunting’ digital agencies

digital_state_of_nation_nucleusSix in ten marketers say they are unhappy with the work of their digital agencies, according to a new survey.

The study was commissioned by Nucleus Digital Strategy. It said that in response to the question: “Are marketers satisfied with their current digital services supplier?”, 59% said no.

The Digital State of the Nation survey was based on “82 candid interviews with senior Australian marketers”, said Nucleus.

Marketers were also sceptical about the digital credentials of advertising agencies, with only 14% trusting their external digital marketing to ad agencies and 86% to specialist digital agencies.  

However, the report added:

“There is a perception that digital agencies are failing to deliver strategies that effectively guide how the enterprise will deploy the digital channel. The marketers we interviewed spoke of web agencies’ work meeting with ‘varying degrees of success’. As with all agencies, but particularly these, it was felt that while having a better knowledge of the channel, they often lacked the commercial discipline or willingness to understand their clients’ business.”

Some of the comments from marketers also suggest a difference of opinion between marketer and agency over social media. One marketer from the utilities industry was quoted as saying:

“We work in a low involvement commodity category. Our agency was trying to get us to blog. If they understood our business and our customers they would understand that we don’t have a lot to tell them that is worth hearing about!”

The report added:

“The more critical senior marketers accused some agencies of biased advice that lead to more revenue for the agency or work that was more in the interest of the agency (e.g. winning awards) rather than working it the client’s interests. More than one respondent expressed their frustration with agency creatives masquerading as digital marketers.”

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