Question

Topic: Advertising/PR

Ad Agency Start-up Help

Posted by SEM and Interactive on 3/29/2006 at 6:08 PM ET 50 Points
I recently started an adverstisement agency that services the interactive software and video game industry. I will be provinding a number of services including promotions, placement, cobranding campaigns, and more. I have over ten years of experience in Interactive Software and around 5 years of managing a small businesses that I owned. I also have several IT degrees and an MBA, which gives me general knowledge in marketing and advertisement.

However, I do not have ad agency specific experience and want to make sure that I make the right decisions when opening my business.

I have deployed my website, completed my business plan and have a large list of industry contacts, and some good established relationships within the industry.

At this point I have the following questions:

1) Can someone provide me with a quick overview of a typical advertisement agency responsibilities, projects and operations.

2) I will be providing a service brand marketers and game industry professionals. What things should my agent/client agreement include to protect my work while insuring fair compensation and practices for me and my clients.

3) Are are typical charges, prices and commission rates in this industry?

I appreciate any information that can help me in this new ad agency start-up.
To continue reading this question and the solution, sign up ... it's free!
SUBSCRIBE
Or, SIGN IN

RESPONSES

  • Posted by NatashaChernavska on 3/31/2006 at 12:57 PM Member
    Would you, please, give us a link to your website?
    Thanks!
  • Posted by SEM and Interactive on 4/5/2006 at 3:02 AM Author
    Hi guys,

    Sorry for the delay, I was waiting for more responses. I did not fully understood this site point system.

    I can provide the site address if you email me. I do not want to post it on a forum for security reasons. My email is robert@codebox.org. At this time, I am updating the marketing material and the site to improve its looks and marketability.


    I have been doing major reading and research about all areas of advertising agencies and would really appreciate feedback. My major obstacle right now is to figuring out the following:

    1) Pricing and Commission Rates - I think I have this one pretty much down, all literature and research suggest a 15% commission rate on media placement/buyout.

    2) Legal Agreement - I really could use advice on this one. I obtain a advertising agency agreement on a legal website, but I think I need to optimize it. I will be servicing both brand marketers and content creators and don't consider myself an agency per se.

    I can approach operate my agency in two ways:

    a) Operate like a traditional agency - in this case my main clients will be advertisers. The content creators will be like media providers. I can use the legal agreement that I currently have. Use a 15% commission on invoice plus any applicable fixed and hourly rates for other services. The downside to this is that I am not treating content creators as clients, but as media provider. This is not necessarily good for content creators or my business and I do not know how to address them in the legal agreement appropriately.

    b) Operate like a service network - in this case I will treat both the brand marketer and content creators as clients under the same agreement. I will have to modify my legal agreement significantly. The up side and bad side of this strategy is that each client type has a different requirements and needs. It also may be seen as a conflict of interest since I benefit from higher invoice amount not necessarily a good thing for advertiser.

    I am sure I will figure out a fair and effective strategy for my specific business model, but I can use some help.

    Thanks guys,

    Robert


BACK TO TOP

Post a Comment

Related Discussions

Community Info

Top 25 Experts
(Advertising/PR)