advice

The Semaphore creative team asked out accounting team to explain to us why we lose money when we don't charge for budgeting and media research services. Fortunately for us, one of our accountants is also a writer. Meet Suzanne Elhosary, the one who aggressively watches our project spending.

How much is that doggie in the window?

What exactly is the price of tea in China?

How much would it cost me to reach 50% of the am drive time 39 to 54 market with a 30 second spot that would cost me exactly how much to produce and can we get a rush on that?

We did a brochure in 1999, you remember? Let's do those again, but we need to update the text and change the logo. What'll it cost us?

What do all these questions have in common?

A few things.

First, our crack team can get to work on any of them and give you an accurate, concise, workable answer that we are happy to have the opportunity to provide for you.

And second, an accurate, concise, workable answer to any of these questions will require extensive research that we both can rely on. Just as the price of tea in China will depend upon a myriad list of factors - international trade balances, shipping costs, the price of labor, the effects of global warning on tea production rates - so to our research must take into account an ever changing roster of variables. And that's our job - to know which variables will come into play in each and every job we do.

A third thing these questions have in common is that the careful research needed to provide reliable answers to them requires a very precious ingredient - time. When you ask us to budget a job we spend as much time as is necessary to do it well. We know that an accurate, thorough budget is the sound base on which a successful project is built. It allows us to do business together with as few unpleasant surprises as possible. All this requires an enormous investment of time on our part. At an ad agency, time and expertise are the services we sell.

When the successful project is complete Semaphore does its best to absorb the cost of the budgeting process.

But what happens when, for whatever reason, the proposed project is not pursued? You can see why it becomes necessary that the client help defray the investment we have made on their behalf. Semaphore will have already invested a great deal of time and resources into the budget preparation phase of the project. And that's our job; that's what we're here for. But just like that proverbial lunch, it ain't free.