Just like that!
As it happens, we are almost entirely self-service in any case. So why thrust this upon us? Google say it's due to a problem with their own internal resources and their billing system.
Why? Surely 50 people paying say $2000 a month (under one agency account) is better than 10 paying $3500 individually.
Have others encountered this and do you have views / solutions?
[edited by: Shak at 10:26 am (utc) on May 10, 2004]
[edit reason] NO email quotes as per TOS, thanx [/edit]
I know that there have been some discussions around the alignment of agency discounts globally and that decisions were made on a per country basis, in line with availability of discounts with other providers.
The issue has always been that the rules are there, no ambiguity. They state quite clearly their terms, and you can't borrow from Peter to pay Paul (so to speak).
We've had instances where clients have gone from agency terms to self-service, and we have had to make a decision at that time on what to do. In some instances we have increased what we charge the client. In some instances we have just swallowed it. In some instances it has made it unviable for us to deal with the client and use Google, so we switch the budget elsewhere.
The agency discount should never be viewed as a given, but it has proved to be a useful negotiating tool with clients, where the budget levels might not quite be enough. We always try to make sure that everyone wins when discounts are involved.
I'd like to see a system that is easy for us to manage internally, but that's why we have a financial controller, to help with the complexities of it all.
However, the rules have just changed as far as we're concerned and there's nothing in Google's Ts&Cs that appears to disallow an agency umbrella account.
Indeed, one would think this should be encouraged by Google. Benefits to Google are:
one billing point.
one point of contact.
one motivated reseller.
I asked the question that, if (for some mad reason) I wanted to spend £1 million promoting my friends' sites through my own single account, would I be denied the facility? The answer - yes!
David
We've recently had to go self service on a number of accounts (new account manager) so in many cases the funds go elsewhere.
It seems that if you had one company with 10 different divisions that would cumulatively spend 30k per month that self service would be the only option if each account spent 3k per month.
I think that there has to be consistency across the countries, and a lot of the re-alignment has been for that reason.
Why would an office in say Italy provide agency discount to an agency operating out of the US, but not to an Italian one.
Many agencies would make that one of their USP's.
It's a bit like the techniques for SEO. If the motive for doing X would still be the same in the absence of Y then would you do it?
Best advice will always be where does the advertiser get the best ROI. The nitty gritty of how that ROI is achieved will be between the advertiser, the agency and the supplier.
I've always found the goalposts with Google to be solid, and accept that commercial decisions are taken which affect us. Be nice for them not to happen, but things change, usually because people abuse the privilige, or someone kicks up a fuss. This is probably a result of all of the above.
