Business

In the mid 1990s, Saatchi  Saatchi agency was almost going bankrupt Business Intelligence, 2004). This was after it had experienced tremendous growth in the previous years. At that time, the founders of the agency who were brothers had just left and a new chairman had been selected. The Saatchi agency was also merged to Cordiant communications during that time (Business Intelligence, 2004). To put the agency back on track, the agencys top management had to formulate new strategies and to make structural changes. Their strategies were focused on finances and customer. In setting financial strategies, the agencys new management set a number of goals which they would strive to achieve. The goals included to increase their revenue base such that it would exceed that of the market in terms of being better, to convert 30 of the increased revenue into operating profit, and to double the amount of money each share would be earning (Business Intelligence, 2004). These were the goals that they promised the shareholders that they would achieve.

After the agency had designed its vision and set its financial goals, it had to take steps to realize them. At that time the agency had 45 business units which were spread worldwide (Business Intelligence, 2004). It was necessary for the management to change the internal structures of the agency. This was in line with re-priotizing the business units investment plans. The agency first grouped its business units into three groups drive, prosper, and lead agencies (Business Intelligence, 2004). This was after the management team had checked the financial status of each agency to determine those that were making profits and those that were not. It also determined which agencies had potential and agencies that had no potential. Most agencies fell into the prosper agencies group. This group comprised of agencies with not more than 50 workers and their potential to ever grow into big agencies was limited. The strategic plan for such agencies was not to expect them grow dramatically but to ensure they achieved high margins.  The agencies that fell in the drive group were those that had workers ranging between 50 and 150. The set goals for these were to slightly grow or maintain their base of revenue and to increase their margins. The group of lead agencies comprised of the largest agencies. The strategic plan for them included making them grow rapidly and to allocate them the largest portion of investment (Business Intelligence, 2004).

For them to achieve financial success, the agency had to focus on its customers and thus it came up with strategies that would enable them achieve this. They came up with a phrase that would reflect their approach to customers Permanently Infatuated Clients (PICs) (Business Intelligence, 2004). They set out to make clients love them. Another customer strategy was that all agencies were to focus their attention on the part of client base that formed the largest portion of its revenues. Part of this approach involved providing quality service to all customers in all parts of the world. So as to implement the plan of creating PICs, the workers in the various agencies were to come up with bright ideas that would serve to ensure that the clients benefited from their services.

The financial strategies adopted made sense. This was because for agencies that had few employees, it meant that the customer base they were serving was limited and thus allocating it more finances would not lead to increased margins. However, for agencies that had a large number of employees, it meant that the customer base they were serving was relatively big and with more finances they would be able to reach even a larger number of customers. This was shown by the achievement of goals way before even the set deadline was reached. The purchase of Saatchi  Saatchi by Publicis Groupe SA changed the results obtained by the balanced score card. This was because it increased the results obtained since there was more capital to be allocated to agencies for growth which would in turn increase the margins. These two approaches of the agency worked in synthesis. Both ensured that the set goals were achieved.     

The customer strategies that were adopted reinforced the financial strategies. This was because the approach ensured that the customers were satisfied with their services and thus kept coming back. This meant that their profit margins increased. The strategy that required workers in various agencies to come up with ideas was useful in reinforcing the financial strategies. This was because since the agencies were globally distributed, it meant that they served customers with different needs and thus decentralizing the making of ideas ensured that the ideas formed were in line with the specific needs of the customers. The overall result of this was increased margins due to satisfied customers who kept going back for more. The process of implementation was done well. It was done using the business scorecard method and the results were obtained immediately and had long lasting effects. Its long lasting effects are seen by the fact that the agency ranked among the lead creative agencies worldwide (Business Intelligence, 2004).