By: Janette Estep / VP Controller
Trust me…
There’s been a lot of talk in the last few years about transparency in the advertising industry, especially when it comes to finances. We understand the need for it, sure. But, transparency is not synonymous with ethics or morality. Rather, it’s a way of conducting business and managing operations that are often an indication of a company’s values.
I’ve worked at &Barr for more than 36 years, in all its incarnations, and I’ve had the good fortune to have been mentored by many advertising leaders in that time. I worked for two of the agency’s founders, Pete Barr and Chuck Fry. I worked for their trusted friend, employee and CFO, Mary Alice Kolesar. It was she who taught me, among many things, that our clients need to trust us with their money. That trust, coupled with integrity, is what our clients expect of their advertising partner and what they deserve from us.
Over the years, we have endured countless routine audits by our clients and we passed all of them with high marks. None of our clients expected anything different because we have never, ever given them any less.
And while finance and billing may not increase our client’s sales or brand awareness, the attention we give it goes a long way toward building strong agency/client relationships. Because, at the end of the day, that’s what our industry is about and what our agency does exceedingly well. Build relationships. Especially those built on transparency, trust and integrity.
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