Scared of the boutique agency? Well if you’re the elephant, maybe you should be. And if you’re the client…don’t worry. We won’t bite.
Recently, one of the biggest airlines in Dubai launched their new corporate campaign with a boutique agency out of Amsterdam.
What gives? With a bigger budget and an international brand, why not head on over to a mammoth PR agency?
According to Dubai News:
The boutique agencies are heading back to town… In such a marketplace, niche agencies can conceivably hold their own. “If firms can come up with out-of-box communications solutions, there are clients who are willing to give them a hearing,” a media industry consultant said. “If there’s nothing unique, the message gets drowned in the media clutter.”
Is boutique the new trend in the GCC?
We’ve seen this in our neighbourhood, and we’ve seen it with our neighbours. More people are leaving their day jobs to open their own agencies and more clients are seeking out boutique agencies for their needs. But why?
Dedication and hard work with smaller agencies
Boutique agencies cherish your business and treat it as one of their most important accounts. There’s more than one reason for that. The Jerry Maguire-type Managing Directors have opened up their own agencies for the very reason that they are tired of doing things a certain way. They want to devote more time, energy and ethics into accounts that they can find personal kinship with.
Here are some other reasons why people make the switch to boutique:
• Dedicated team – what you see is what you get
• Value for money – small agencies can provide the same full-service expertise at lower rates because of their streamlined operations
• True partners – when the client does well, so does the agency
• Boutique agencies tend not to bite off more than they can chew
At the end of the day, what really matters for the client is three factors: spend, return and service with a smile.
So the size of the agency makes no real difference at all. The difference for any client is really in the people. Do they bring the experience, know-how, vision, and contacts to a client that will make a difference in that organisation’s results and bottom line?
The world has taught us that there is a life cycle for everything, and I believe that it is the boutique’s time to shine, as long as they really deliver.
Mammoth or boutique?
