A sword with two edges

The process has been accelerated by the terrible events of September 11th and a resultant downturn in the industry.

The appeal of 'global yet local' is a potent one, and used within a careful approach can bring benefits. For links to the majors can bring in an amount of global expertise and range useful to companies operating in the Gulf and Middle East, and a number of organizations have been able to give vital backing to worldwide PR campaigns.

Yes, the lure of the mega names in the industry can prove overpowering, but it is advisable to operate with a certain measured caution, because the experience backed advice may be tailored for American or European markets, which often have fundamentally different modes of operation when compared to what we find is required by clients from our region.

So often clients have fared better heeding the advice of folk who know what makes regionally based operations tick, have a depth of local experience to back it up, and have demonstrated they are the best judges of what is needed.

There is nothing like the comforting feeling that a task has been committed to a professional who fully understands the tempo of the market in which you are seeking assistance.

If a major has an account director with a true feel for the local market, he is often able to make sure he matches the local agency to the precise requirements of the client.

In our 30 years of experience I have known the major agencies step outside their own network of affiliates to find the required local agency expertise in particular countries. They have to be realistic, and know the strengths and weaknesses of their network.

For the fact is that the last two years have seen a plethora of large and small agencies in our region going to the USA or Europe to become affiliates of major groups, in the hope that this will gain them more recognition with local clients. But just because a local agency becomes an affiliate does not necessarily make them a better agency. They will have access to experience gained by a wide ranging operation, but how they convert that to the advantage of particular clients depends on their own inherent abilities.

The key to the success of operations handled by the affiliate of a major group still centres on the local abilities and knowledge of the regional agency. It may well be that a worldwide group has conscripted the necessary local expertise when it bought up a regional operation, and continuing success will rest on the wisdom of their choice within any particular country.

Perhaps an ideal solution would be to form a particular multi country network to best service the needs of a particular client, but this is not generally possible with the constraints of building up an overall team. However, it is vital to keep a close eye on every link in the operation. As a regional network, we have been consistently able to do this, and I can vividly recall a time when I spotted that an agency office was not satisfying the requirements of a client, and stepped in to appoint an independent office to handle a project in that country. It is not an easy move to undertake, but when necessary it is vital to client confidence.

This very closeness and feel for the market is vital in our part of the world, and often far outweighs the value of imported expertise.

The power of the major networks may seem mighty, but it could turn out to be a sword with two edges.

Tony Christodoulou is Managing Director of Action Global Communications, a regional network based in Cyprus, and can be contacted at tony.c@actionprgroup.com

This article first appeared in the February edition of Gulf Marketing Review