Taz Papoulias addresses agency flaws with the launch of Seamlessmedia
Taz Papoulias: 'The only agencies that need to worry are the ones who take advantage of their clients, and, given a small marketing campaign has driven 100+ genuine leads - it looks like there are quite a few.'
Taz Papoulias has launched his media agency, seamlessmedia.com.au, aimed at addressing the flaws of conventional agencies.
With almost 20 years of experience at agencies such as Murmur, True and Whitehat, Papoulias said he had a lightning bolt moment when he realised why agencies were moving to monthly agreements and customer loyalty was low.
“After launching some of the most successful agencies and divisions in Australia over the last 20 years, not much has changed. When you unpack it - it comes down to ‘Value’ and ‘transparency,” said Papoulias.
He noticed that a fair value exchange must occur between agency and staff, not just agency and client, which he pinned down to low staff retention rates. But the core of his business model is focussed on transparency.
“In a competitive landscape, agencies aim to maximise income from clients, on average, taking 4-to-6 bites of the cherry from retainers to media rebates, media mark-ups, overcharges, marking up offshore staff exorbitantly, placing more people than required on an account. And the client has no idea! On a typical $100k media buy, some Agencies make up to $40k and that is ridiculous,” he said.
Papoulias plans to disrupt the market by not only educating it but also encouraging clients to ask questions about how their agency is generating income from them to uncover any hidden fees. He expects backlash from the industry with his approach but is unphased.
“Just to be clear, it's not all agencies, but it is a significant amount that profiteer. The only agencies that need to worry are the ones who take advantage of their clients, and, given a small marketing campaign has driven 100+ genuine leads - it looks like there are quite a few. If the market shifts to become more transparent and I go out of business - then that is a win for me because it means the client wins,” Papoulias Said
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seamlessmedia.com.au has completed its soft launch with several new clients and is currently working on a unique Video offering for brands, AI automation, and is heavily recruiting.
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Top image: Taz Papoulias
