Service Quality of Advertising and Promotions Agencies in South Africa

Abstract

Service quality is important to firms that use advertising and communication agencies and these agencies in turn need to make sure that their service quality is what clients expect. The purpose of this research is to assess perceptions of the service quality offered by agencies in South Africa and to identify the most important service attributes of the agency offerings. Agencies were also divided into three types: mass communication agencies, or above the line agencies (ATL), sales promotion agencies, or below the line agencies (BTL), and integrated marketing communication agencies, or full service agencies (FS). A total of 105 responses were received and results were reported for each agency type and in total. The results show some serious differences between what clients are looking for and agency strategies. These are discussed in detail. Recommendations are made which will help agencies in the development of strategic partnerships with clients.

KEYWORDS:

• client-agency
• service quality
• advertising agencies
• agency services