Merchandise and Advertising
One further warning. An agency that talks about its philosophy is trying to dignify its `merchandise` with a word that does not belong to it. An agency`s merchandise is creative skill, executive and production talent, market `know-how` and understanding. It is on these, and these only, that it should be judged.
To return then to the company launching the car shampoo, we will assume that an advertising agency is brough into the discussions on the marketing plan at an early stage. The agency will appoint and `account executive` as the liaison between the agency and the client. His is the rensponsibility to handle all the detail of the account, and to bring into the discussions, as required, specialist agency staff to hammer out particular points with the client, such as marketing policy generally, packaging, point-of-sale display, etc., as these points become relevant in working out the advertising programme as an integral part of the marketing plan.
Let us suppose that it is considered advisable to formulate the advertising platform so as to make the product -the car shampoo- appeal to the feminime members of the car-owning househould and that, accordingly, the intention was to give the car shampoo an attractive scent. The advertising agency having been in the discussions at a very early stage might suggest that the package, and not the shampoo itself should be scented (on the grounds that, while the women might influence the choice of the car shampoo and therefore be attracted by the scented package, it was the man who usually it, and he might feel it unmasculine to use a scented car shampoo; therefore to scent the package only would attract the woman and not deter the man).
Clearly the whole production planning would have to be adjusted to fit in with this merchandising change. If it had only been adopted after all the planning had been done, the change might have had to be ruled out or perhaps dangerously delayed, on the grounds of the cost of altering the production and packaging process.