If cost is not a factor for clients, what is?

First, the good news: Singapore clients are not fixated by price. But R3's groundbreaking research reveals that a host of other factors are crucial in determining how the city's leading clients view their creative and media partners.

The perception research survey polled 125 marketers, with an average marketing budget of S$5.3 million (US$3.1 million). By inves- tigating different facets of the agency-client relationship, the study is able to rank the city's creative and media agencies, based on various specified attributes, along with awareness.

According to the survey, DDB and MindShare emerged as the leading agencies in Singapore, heading the overall attribute rankings. In particular, MindShare dominates the media agency rankings, taking the top spot in five of the seven attribute categories -- including beyond-the-box media plans, strategic insight and rate negotiation -- and achieving a recall score over 40 per cent higher than its nearest competitor.

On the creative side, DDB takes top spot for three attributes: being highly creative, having good strategic insights and approaches, and being able to turn around projects at a fast pace. For DDB Singapore managing director Richard Bleasdale, the survey's value lies in its focus on clients. "It's the clients talking and saying what matters to them, and it's independent," explains Bleasdale.

One of the most striking findings is that cost-effectiveness ranks last among creative agency attributes, according to perception. In contrast, an understanding of business scores highest, closely followed by reliability, and integration.

While Bleasdale admits clients may simply not wish to admit to cost as a defining factor, he thinks that the low ranking of cost effectiveness may instead be down to the difficulty clients face in measuring value. "There are few agencies interested in performance-based remuneration, and also not that many clients," he notes. The requirement to understand the client's business, meanwhile, which ranks first for both creative and media agencies, divides opinion. "Clients really are looking for serious partners as opposed to agencies that can execute a creative campaign," says Bleasdale. "It does point to a potential shortcoming in this area."

However, MindShare CEO Manpreet Singh questions the value of understanding the business, if this is not supported by strategic insight and approaches. "If the agencies don't understand the business, they can't be strategic," he says. "It's about being a trusted advisor to your client."

Singh puts MindShare's outstanding performance down to a combination of three factors: investment into insights; talent development; and building expertise to reflect changes in client business models. At BBDO, whose overall ranking places it in the top five of Singapore's creative agencies, CEO Sesh Sampath believes that the research offers some hard-hitting truths for agency heads. "It is tough to run an agency," says Sampath. "Eighty per cent of respondents want everything from the agency -- great strategy, great creative, fast turnaround, hard-working staff, talented people and low cost. I am sure it is a function of how much advertisers are willing to pay to meet business demands."

Meanwhile, Y&R managing director Tanuj Philip professes himself heartened with Y&R's performance, which -- in his view -- mirrored the more important attributes: business understanding, strategic insight and creative work that drives results. The agency also placed in the top 10 for top-of-mind recall. "It shows the market is maturing and it fitted in well with what was perceived to be our strengths, and what we know are our strengths," explains Philip.

Many, furthermore, believe that the research points to one fundamental oversight among agencies, as described by R3 principal Goh Shu Fen. "Agencies are great at building clients' brands, but most fall short of doing the same for their own," says Goh. "This research is meant to help agencies gain insight on how they're perceived by clients, non-clients and even prospects, against their competitors."

Goh further noted that the survey offered clients and agencies alike some crucial advantages, compared to conventional agency ranking models. "There are some fundamental factors driving the robustness and credibility of any survey -- the methodology, the screening of participants and the sample size. We reached out to the 20 per cent of marketers who influence 80 per cent of the market," says Goh.

"Clients get approached by too many surveys. They took time to participate in this because they want to help agencies improve on overall service. And they were also keen to know what their peers think."