ABSTRACT
T he advertising business comprises four sets of players: the advertisers, or clients,who purchase advertising to promote their business; the media, who receive around90 per cent of the advertising budget to enable paid-for communication to be seen by a defined target audience; consumers who then see and might be influenced by advertising, and finally the advertising agencies themselves who produce advertisements to accommodate a growing number of media platforms. This chapter looks specifically at two of these parties: the client and the advertising agency and seeks to explore their working relationship. Taking an historical overview of agency development, it examines how modern agency structures have been significantly informed by client demands, why relationships between these two parties are susceptible to frequent deterioration and as a consequence the mechanisms available through which new partnerships might be forged. Underlining all these key themes is a particular set of power dynamics that positions the client as firmly in control in the majority of scenarios considered.
