Friday, September 29, 2006

We need to talk about your fee

Should agencies invest in brands and products? MDC Partners CEO Miles Nadal says yes: "Facing shrinking fees and fed-up clients, Nadal is not the first to suggest changes in the way ad agencies get paid. More shops are working out revenue-sharing deals or taking equity stakes in lieu of the fees they normally charge. Crispin, for instance, received a small equity stake in clothing company Haggar as part of its pay for providing marketing services. But Nadal is more ambitious in that he wants MDC to court the private-equity firms that are snapping up troubled brands right and left and, in many cases, turning them around."

Interesting. Still, it makes me long for the older, simpler times when you could just fudge your timesheets for 15-20 years then retire to the south of France. Oh well. There's always those government contracts!

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