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Who"s davidlian?

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davidlian is an ultra-geeky chinese dude that works for a technology PR agency. He loves fiddling with techno-toys, plays Warhammer 40K, and shoots pictures wherever he goes. Here, he rants about PR, Technology and anything else. Don't expect balance and un-biased, he ain't no journalist. Anything said on this blog are solely davidlian's personal views. Don't confuse them with company mantra, client's views or views of any organisation he may be part of.

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Friday, March 23, 2007

The "Industry Standard", a discussion on fees

A couple of posts back, I mentioned that PRCAM (that's the PR Consultants Association of Malaysia) was planning to put on-line a "fee guide" for prospective clients.

My guess is that it'll be somewhere around the region of RM 300 per hour (blended rate).

So why this measure? I'm mixed over whether this will be good for bigger or smaller agencies. Someone I spoke to thinks for bigger agencies, this will stop smaller agencies from under-cutting them with lower than "industry standard" fees. I think smaller agencies are going to offer smaller than "industry standard" fees anyway and now, their case is gonna be stronger since an actual "industry standard" is put up.

On the other hand, bigger agencies can now breath a sigh of relief and calmly tell clients they aren't "overcharging" but "merely" charging "industry standard". So I guess they win too.

But who'll be the real winners? I'm guessing it's the mid-sized agency who delivers good work, has a reasonable reputation, but have never been able to command the fee a more established agency like Weber Shandwick or Hill and Knowlton would. They now have an "industry standard" to adhere to, which, like it or not, dear client, is higher than what we're charging you now.

So, put your hands together and welcome, "Industry Standard" fees.

5 comments:

Linus Linnaeus said...

wow...

david you're a blogger too now...just wanna say hello and welcome...and yes englightening article on PR charges...now usual filmmaking charges like RM 300-500 a day seems like nothing compared to RM 300 an hour...I'd go broke spending time with you dude :P

wow...

Linus

davidlian said...

hey Linus, nah....resurrecting an old blog. I've got 4 blogs now on blogspot, thought I'd go squat on a name that actually relates to me.

Check out:

http://jbj.vox.com and http://davidlian.vox.com

Shifting away from vox for a bit because it's difficult for anyone who's not a vox member to post comments on vox. Darn annoying when you're trying to foster discussion about matters like PR fees.

Believe me, it only looks good on paper. Doesn't work out at all when it comes down to actual financials. And don't be fooled, the company makes the money. And pays me less than your average film maker. :)

TK said...

ooh. you have a blog too.

Linus Linnaeus said...

It's a different world i guess...your work is mostly mental strategies...filmmaking is like hot sun, heavy equipments and crisis management...I once said to an editor quite condesendingly(sometimes I am unwillingly an ass because i have yet to mature fully) how you stare at a computer screen whole day...she said in reply well...i can't stand the sun...well...to each his own and if you're happy great...in bridge to terabithia ...life's greatest reward is to work hard at work worth doing! cheers dude...

davidlian said...

Paul,

Hi. I read your blog too. Do you have any comments on the Naza Suria?

Linus,

Yeah. My job, it's like getting brain cramps every day as soon as I come back from work.