Working With An Ad Agency And The "Seven-Year Itch"

by Steve Fodor

I’ve always heard that an agency/client relationship is a lot like a marriage. And most marriages that fail do so, on average, in about seven years. It goes something like this.

1. Year one – the honeymoon phase.

2. Year two – you start to notice little “quirks” about each other, but it’s no big deal.

3. Year three – you begin to take each other for granted.

4. Year four – you start to ignore each other.

5. Year five – tensions grow and you begin to argue…a lot.

6. Year six – you start to realize you made a bad decision.

7. Year seven – you get the “itch” to find another partner.

When do most marriages and agency/client relationships go bad? Year three.

Flickr Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/50841708@N00/