I don’t know about other bloggers but I was really irked when those “RSS Feed” blogs used my posts rampantly without the common courtesy of including a credit line or a link. Some of these irresponsible blogs even credited my posts to someone else. I once wrote to a site owner via his comment box  [...]

The sub-prime crisis is hurting the US economy, and the worst fear is that the U.S. will stumble from recession into depression. That will really put the whole world into a tailspin. After all, USA is the last surviving political and economy superpower. We read about Americans moving out of the suburbs to live in [...]

Do you ask your client to provide a budget for a new project? How often did a prospective client look at you suspiciously from under the eyelids, wondering what you were up to? Perhaps, even some of your regulars said something to the effect that “Ermm, John, it’s somewhere around $2,000 to $4000.” The question [...]

Rising fuel prices and global food shortages have caused rice prices to increase 61.1% when comparing June 2007 to June 2008. Besides rice, soya beans rocketed 57.4%, corn soared 51.2%, wheat escalated 45.3% and even milk surged by 33.5%. What do all these mean to the ordinary Joes and Janes? Cutting back unnecessary expenses, pre-plan [...]

This is the final part of the “Rush Fees” series … … Part 1 highlighted that some agencies actually don’t charge rush fees as they believe that when they support a client in need, they will strengthen the relationship. Part 2 suggested that agencies can offer creative payment terms if they do need to charge [...]

In part 1, supporting clients who have urgent jobs at the usual price – especially when there is no financial loss – is suggested. In part 2, offering creative payment terms were recommended. Here, in part 3, let’s talk about when and if an ad agency should seriously consider dropping a rush job if it [...]

I believe that proper strategizing and planning will yield a better result compared to a hastily put together rush job. Racing against time, going without sleep, working non-stop under immense pressure, bashing with internal and external folks to get things done are stressful and nerve wrecking. I much prefer to plan ahead, get things organised [...]

One of the problems faced by many agencies must surely be telling clients why they have to “pay more”. Premiums are never easy for clients to accept. Some examples of premiums are: Urgent, overnight film production Placement loading (right-hand page, back page…) Color proofing I am sure you can think of many more instances. But [...]