This article is designed to help you work successfully with your booking agency. Here I am referring to David Ogilvy’s 15 rules about “How to Be a Good Client“.
David Ogilvy was a pioneer of modern advertising and is considered one of the most influential advertising executives of the 20th century. He not only created ground-breaking campaigns but also developed a guide for effective collaboration between (advertising) agencies and their clients. His rules have become principles that professionals in the industry still follow today.
When I read his book „Confessions of an Advertising Man“, published back in 1963, I was amazed at how timeless these rules about “How to Be a Good Client“ are and how well they apply to the collaboration between artists and booking agencies.
The following passages from Ogilvy’s book stand largely on their own; I have only supplemented them with examples and explanations and I focus on the rules that fit best into the daily artist-agent routine:
1. Emancipate your agency from fear.
Most agencies run scared, most of the time. This is partly because many of the people who gravitate to the agency business are naturally insecure, and partly because many clients make it unmistakably plain that they are always on the lookout for a new agency. Frightened people are powerless to produce good advertising [or tours].
After I resigned the Rolls-Royce account, I invited myself to visit the Ford Motor Company, “to get acquainted.” To his everlasting credit, the advertising manager of Ford refused to receive me. He said: “Detroit is a small town. If you come to visit me, you would be seen. Our present agencies would hear about it, and they might be alarmed. I don’t want to alarm them.”
If a booking agent is constantly in fear that the band they work so hard for could switch to a bigger agency at the first opportunity, they will obviously be much less motivated to give their best.
If I were a client, I would do everything in my power to emancipate my agencies from fear, even to the extent of giving them long-term contracts.
My friend Clarence Eldridge has worked on both sides of the fence. After distinguishing himself as Chairman of the Plans Board at Young & Rubicam, he went on to become Vice President in charge of marketing for General Foods and later Senior Vice President of Campbell Soup Company. This judicious connoisseur of client-agency relationships came to believe that “there is one word which characterizes the ideal relationship: PERMANENCY . . . If permanency is to be achieved, it must be in the minds of the parties from the very beginning. It must be deliberately and consciously built into the relationship. […]
Advertising agencies make convenient scapegoats. It is easier to fire your agency than to admit […] that there is something wrong with your product or your management. However, before you fire your agency, ask yourself these questions: […]“
– Will the appointment of a new agency solve your problem, or merely sweep it under the rug? What are the real roots of your problem? […]“
– Did you dictate the advertising [tour conditions] for which you now blame your agency?“
Bands often want to have a say in tour planning, which can work if there are more requests than available tour dates. However, for lesser-known bands, it often happens that, after a long search, the booking agent finds fewer interested local promoters than there are dates to fill. In such cases, the agent can only try to arrange the shows in a sensible order so that, for example, any days off fall on a Sunday or Monday instead of a weekend. Additionally, the band’s arrival and departure locations/routes must also be taken into account.
The extent to which you can choose venues depends on the band’s level of popularity and the tour period (as some months are more favourable for touring than others). Many unknown bands have unrealistic expectations and suggest certain routes or venues. They often want to work with friendly promoters but complain about the deals afterwards. The best gigs are not necessarily organized by old buddies.
Unrealistic fee demands, a lack of equipment, special conditions, or excessive demands for catering or accommodation can also make booking shows considerably more difficult.
– Have you been scaring your agency into a blue funk?“
The agent needs to be able to trust the band. Sometimes, bands know from the start of their collaboration with a booking agent that they will switch to another agency in the future. Occasionally, they keep one agency ‚on the back burner‘ in case things don’t work out with the other. Such disrespectful treatment of others will inevitably have a negative impact on the band’s career. The band members likely won’t respect and trust each other either.
– How do you feel about one of your competitors inheriting the secrets which your agency has acquired in your service?“
Agents and promoters like to talk to each other about their experience with bands they have worked with. The live music scene is small. Especially when a band is not yet well known, the band’s demeanor plays an important role in the decision to book them for a show or festival. Since promoters often don’t make much money from small to medium-sized concerts, they expect a certain amount of gratitude and respect and tend to stay away from bands with a bad reputation.
– Have you been candid with the head of your agency? If you told him of your dissatisfaction, he might well be able to wheel up guns with greater fire power than you could find in a new agency.“
Successful collaboration is only possible if the artist and agent talk about their expectations and problems. […]
2. Select the right agency in the first place.
If you spend large sums of your stockholders’ money on advertising, and if your profits are dependent on its efficiency, it is your duty to take great pains to find the best possible agency. […]
Find out if they have the spine to disagree when you say something stupid. Do they promise you results which are obviously exaggerated? Are they good listeners? Are they intellectually honest?”
Above all, find out if you like them; the relationship between client and agency has to be an intimate one, and it can be hell if the personal chemistry is sour.
Don’t make the mistake of assuming that your account will be neglected in a big agency. The young men at the working levels in big agencies are often abler and harder-working than the nabobs at the top. On the other hand, don’t assume that a big agency can give you more service than a small one. The number of bodies deployed against your account will be roughly the same in a small agency as in a big one.”
3. Brief your agency very thoroughly indeed.
The more your agency knows about your company and your product, the better job it will do for you.” When General Foods hired our agency to advertise Maxwell House Coffee, they undertook to teach us the coffee business. Day after day we sat at the feet of their experts, being lectured about green coffee, and blending, and roasting, and pricing, and the arcane economics of the industry.
Some advertising managers are too lazy or too ignorant to brief their agencies properly. In such cases we have to dig out the facts by ourselves. The resulting delay in producing our first campaign demoralizes all concerned.“
Make sure to inform your agent about everything they need to know, such as:
• Your expectations for the future of the band and touring (also ensure that all band members share the same expectations).
• Your personal circumstances (how much time you have, will have, if you have full-time jobs, children, etc.).
• The cities/regions where you are known, where you already have many fans, and where you are still growing your fan base.
• Your current market value. What were your past fees, visitor numbers, etc.?
• Who else is working with you, such as a label or promotion company?
• Your existing releases (albums/singles), upcoming releases, and your planned dates.
4. Do not compete with your agency in the creative area. Why keep a dog and bark yourself?
Back-seat driving knocks the stuffing out of good creative men; if you do that, God help you.”
Make it plain to your advertising manager that the responsibility for creating your campaign belongs not to him but to the agency, and enjoin him not to dilute their responsibility.So we took the Hathaway account, and Mr. Jette kept his word. He never changed a word of our copy. He saddled us with the total responsibility for his advertising. If our advertising for Hathaway had failed, the responsibility would have been mine. But it has not failed. Never has a national brand been built at such a low cost.“
In short, regarding the relationship between a booking agent and an artist: don’t get involved unless the booker explicitly asks for your help.
You hire a booker because they have a good understanding of performance opportunities, possible fees, other conditions, and possess a talent for logistics and organization. They are the expert. That’s why you should listen to them and follow their guidance. If you don’t understand something, ask. If you have suggestions, feel free to share them, but you can’t expect the agent to accept all your suggestions. Typically, the agent doesn’t need you to suggest potential venues, as they will likely have already considered those options.
Constant follow-up questions can be annoying. It’s fine to ask if you haven’t heard from the agent for a while, but never tell the booker how to do their job. If you’re not happy with the agent’s work, communicate that clearly. If things are not going well, there can be many reasons. It might be that the booker is not motivated. In that case, ask why – perhaps your behaviour is part of the reason.
If you don’t trust your booking agent, then book the tour yourself. An agent feels valued when you trust them, and that trust motivates them to do a better job.
5. Coddle the goose who lays your golden eggs.
Perhaps the most important operation agencies are ever called upon to perform is to prepare a campaign for a new product which has not yet emerged from the laboratory. This requires us to create a total image ab ovo.“
At this point, Ogilvy describes how challenging it is to market a completely new product.
In fact, many unknown bands, which are basically new, untested products themselves, expect exactly this kind of top performance from their managers and record companies.
It’s important to mention that a booking agency doesn’t „make bands big“—that’s what managers and/or promotion specialists are hired for. A professional booking agency can only work with bands that have already toured successfully in the same region or where there are other compelling reasons for potential interest from promoters.
A new product is a risk that larger agencies are rarely willing to take. As an unknown band you should be truly grateful if someone agrees to help you, even though no one can predict the future or accurately determine whether a product will be successful. You can only try it out and see if it resonates. Given that the music market is quite saturated, hardly anyone is actively looking for new bands. So, it’s extremely difficult to make a new band known and popular. […]
6. Make sure that your agency makes a profit.
Your account competes with all the other accounts in your agency. And sooner or later they will cast about for a profitable account to replace yours.“
Don’t argue. Pay the agent without hesitation. Never make the agent feel like you don’t want to pay them at all. I know it’s tough when you have to hand over your hard-earned money for the tour van, backline, and booking work, but remember that all service providers work just as hard for their share. The booker has worked for months on your tour (not just for the booked shows, but also for all the unbooked and unpaid ones!), and spends the entire year working on your reputation, doing promotion, and getting your name out there.
If an agent has to fight to get paid at the end of a tour, even though the tour was successful given the band’s popularity, their motivation will drop significantly. Good tour planning is crucial so you can determine whether you can afford a tour bus, driver, professional musicians with fixed fees, rented backline, etc. In the end, you have to pay for all the services you’ve booked.
If your agent receives a percentage of your fees (which is usually around 15%), it’s not always fair for the agent either. It’s a lot of work to plan the routing and secure gigs for all days of the week, especially outside of Friday and Saturday. Additionally, the fees are much lower on those days, leading to an imbalance where there’s more work for less money.
For lesser-known bands, the booker often doesn’t even come close to earning minimum wage. Therefore, it makes sense to offer the booker a minimum guarantee upfront so they can work with confidence and not worry about not being paid if the tour gets cancelled or something similar. After all, they are doing the work regardless.
7. Don’t haggle with your agency.
If you allow pettifoggers on your staff to haggle with your agency over payment of its bills, you make a mistake.“
Ask your agent in advance about any office or promotion costs they might charge you. Remember, a professional booking agent relies on this job for their livelihood; it’s not a hobby. The agent is not your fan, but a service provider you’ve hired who also has bills to pay.
8. Be candid, and encourage candor.
If you think that your agency is performing badly, or if you think that a particular advertisement [or tour] is feeble, don’t beat about the bush. Speak your mind, loud and clear. Disastrous consequences can arise when a client pussyfoots in his day-to-day dealings with his agency.
I do not suggest that you should threaten. Don’t say, “You are an incompetent mucker, and I will get another agency unless you come back tomorrow with a great advertisement [with more/better paid shows/better routing etc.].” Such brutality will only paralyze the troops. It is better to say, “What you have just shown me is not up to your usual high standard. Please take another crack at it.” At the same time you should explain exactly what you find inadequate about the submission; don’t leave your agency to guess.
This kind of candor will encourage your agency to be equally candid with you. And no partnership can fructify without candor on both sides.“
9. Set high standards.
Discourage bunting. Make it plain that you expect your agency to hit home runs, and pour on the praise when they do.
Many clients find it easy to blame their agency when sales go down, but are niggardly in giving credit to their agency when sales go up. This is unedifying. […]“
Read more → What are your shows worth?
Author: Mary
