Advice for finding pro bono ad/ marketing agencies

we do have partners in Asia but it depends on what sort of influence/work you're looking to do and where.

Richard

[quote]My agency does do some charity PR work and although it's not free it is relatively low cost. We stick to the PRCA and CIPR code and agree budgets front so there are no nasty surprises. Work can include lobbying Government and other politicians. Work this year includes launching The Bright Ideas Trust, run by Apprentice winner Tim Campbell. [/quote]

Are you local or international agency? Any office in Asia?

My agency does do some charity PR work and although it's not free it is relatively low cost. We stick to the PRCA and CIPR code and agree budgets front so there are no nasty surprises. Work can include lobbying Government and other politicians. Work this year includes launching The Bright Ideas Trust, run by Apprentice winner Tim Campbell.

Hi Tony and Stephen,

Thank you for your wisdom, I will pass on your experiences to my managers. I am looking for an agency that offers all-round integrated creative and communication services and that has experience with short and long-term campaigns involving DM, press, PR etc. An agency that isn't afraid of taking risks is also a big factor in my search.

I will have a look at the registers you have suggested but of course further advice and suggestions are fully appreciated from anyone and everyone!

Evelyn

Hi Evelyn,

I must echo Tony's words of caution. In my experience, the financial benefit of pro-bono work as always been lessened by difficulties of communication, prioritisation, and creative differences.

You're unlikely to find any agency advertising pro bono offers. They tend to come along the way of many charitable partnerships - Chairman of the agency has a pet charity, or a major brand client of an agency has a charity for a partnership and introduced their agency to them. I've enjoyed support in various charities through both routes.

It's far better to start your search the traditional way - with a budget, however small, and a clear brief that outlines your objectives, audience, key messages, timescales and budget. It's best to establish whether an agency can meet your brief before you get into any negotiations as a charity. And you may find that an agency is amenable to some compromise on cost.

You don't say what type of agency you are looking for, but the Advertising Agency Register and the Direct Marketing Agency Register may both be worth a call to start you on your way.

Stephen

Hello, Evelyn: While you are seeking to secure a “pro bono” relationship with an advertising, marketing, or PR agency, for your charity event, I am taking the liberty to provide cautionary counsel based on a number of such arrangements with which I have been involved over many years.

Please do understand that I am as appreciative and grateful as anyone can be for the generosity of others--- that I never (almost never) “look a gift horse in the mouth.” But when it comes to the donation of creative services from a generous and well-meaning advertising, design, or PR agency, I suggest you be alert for:

1. Pro bono almost always involves only the contribution of creative time and talent of the agency’s staff. It rarely---if ever---accounts for the contribution of other charges they incur from outside the firm for services they do for you, but do not have “in-house,” such as the taking of photographs, video, printing, typesetting, page-making, etc. Oftentimes those charges are later presented as a surprise to the recipient charity for the charity to pay, and those expenses can be significantly high. You must have an understanding upfront regarding such outside services contracted by the agency on your behalf.

2. Your “pro bono” position with the agency will surely be regularly moved lower regarding the priority it will have with the demands of the agency’s paying clients. This is simply something you will need to accept without question, thus to have your planning and production schedule be as flexible as possible so you don’t miss your own deadlines.

3. Unlike a paying client, your “pro bono” arrangement could likely at some time have you placed in an uncomfortable and possibly embarrassing position should you not approve in some way of the free work being done for you. As a “pro bono” recipient, you will be expected to accept what you get.

One such personal experience was when a fine group of creative folks at a local advertising agency had been at work for weeks with a “pro bono” project to give my organization a new Annual Fund Campaign slogan and logo. Time and again we politely asked for a “peek” or two at what they were doing. Bless them, but they were so excited about the project that they wanted to “surprise” us at the end of their work.

Sure enough, it finally came to the “Ta Da,” presentation day, and sure enough, there was indeed a great “surprise”---that the finished work was totally unacceptable to us. Because we had no ongoing evaluation, the agency unfortunately entirely missed the point of our campaign’s mission and message. They meant well, but their rendition simply did not work.

I hasten to reiterate my true appreciation and high regard for such “pro bono” support given by generous, caring and well-intentioned creative agencies. But evaluating donated creativity is a very subjective undertaking, unlike the clearly defined nature of most other kinds of contributions made to non-profit organizations.

We owe it to our organizations and to our generous creative agency benefactors to look long and hard at the real risks of “pro bono” associations compared to the mutual benefits we may accrue.

Appreciative, but vigilant, are my words of advice when it comes to establishing pro bono relationships.

Tony