Bob,
These guys are a little different in that we have been paid almost $400,000 in the last 9 months on projects, with most of that being paid on-time. It's only in the last 3-5 months that the payments have gotten slow. But it's certainly no coincidence they're struggling financially in this economy. It will all be resolved one way or the other very soon.
My hope is they pay it and we continue doing work...even though they are classic "grinders." If they pay on-time, it's constant work, they never budget or discuss fees, and they make SO many changes to spots, the billing can be phenomenal.
I did read the "grinders" article a while back and had to chuckle because it's so true. Luckily, in 12 years most of our clients have been excellent. This is only the second one we've had like this and funny enough, they're both VERY large, nationally known companies! Even the director of advertising was the same at these two companies, although he's not the common link between their poor management. It's the owner/CEO. They're both classic egomaniacs that got lucky with a concept and still run the companies like they're the local corner gas station. We have local retail clients that run their marketing and advertising in a more sophisticated and intelligent manner.
I'll give you an example. We'll spend a month shooting, editing, revising, then revising some more a series of spots for a promotion. They'll pay a celebrity doctor to go on camera and endorse the product or service. Then, they'll place the spot, and if after ONE day the call volume isn't higher than the previous weekday or previous month or previous year, the owner will quite literally pull the entire campaign! No...stop laughing...I'm serious. The owner pulls all the strings and makes all the decisions.
Another example: they'll introduce a new "revolutionary" product. In one case, it was actually a VERY good product developed by the USDA that they licensed. They did the same thing, spent a ton of money producing spots, ran them for 3 days, then dumped the campaign because call volume was down over the previous like periods. And keep in mind they spent a small fortune on packaging and inventory for this stuff.
With this particular promotion, when we asked about the product's status (we produced spots that never aired) they told us they were discontinuing it. Then last week...they ordered up a NEW TV spot promoting this product again. We said, "I thought it was discontinued?" Their ad director said, "I thought it was too!"
So that should give you some idea of what we're dealing with. If I wrote a book detailing the stuff that goes on, nobody would believe it. It would be like the silly workplace sitcoms on second tier cable TV networks. Except now I don't think those sitcoms are so silly after all!
Anyway...I'll update this thread in a week or two as things shake out.
Thanks for all the comments.
Chris Blair
Magnetic Image, Inc.
Evansville, IN
http://www.videomi.com
