What makes a good digital agency?

In the beginning, specialist companies could fulfil the dreams of clients (well, the early adopters). At that time those dreams were essentially movies on a computer or converting slides into presentations (what innocent days those were). In order to stand out from the crowd, clients were willing to pay a premium, and have projects developed in an innovative way. However as the industry grew, and new products were launched (most notably PowerPoint and more stable movie compression software) the goalposts were moved - agencies had to keep ahead of the game and moved in line with that, embracing CD-ROMs and the web. Whilst this meant a potential to grow the market, and indeed profit margins - the adopted method was to use a lot of smokey mirrors and explain it away as computer voodoo. (In fact a lot of people just saw this industry was a cash cow). I've found, in my experience, that the bigger the agency, the bigger the language, the higher the price - the silly thing, was that clients believed the more complex the language then the probability was they knew more. I'd suggest that reverse was true - in fact I'd even go as far to say that if someone can demystify it, and explain concepts, technologies in a manner that the client can understand, the it is likely that that person actually knows more about the process. That is what fuelled the dot com bubble - VPs who didn't understand, journalists who wanted to believe that this industry was a complex one, MDs who believed what the 'new kids on the block' were telling them---cunningly disguised as 'consultants' - the fact is it was quite simple.

Which brings me to the point of my subject - what makes a good agency? - aside from the expected elements - a competence to deliver what is promised, correct usage of technologies, knowledge of the potential opportunities - it is SERVICE.

That is an easy thing to say, but I'm originally from a service industry - Catering - where the motto (which is ingrained) is that the 'customer is king' - we are, after all is said and done, providing a service, where clients can be difficult, rarely say thank you, look for deals - if you want to attract them, and make sure they come back - then make sure the service is good. If you think of the top restaurants (or even any restaurant), what makes people go - sure the food, but good food can be found anywhere - it normally boils down to the service offered - bad service equals no return, good service means you can debate whether the ambience or decor was good, or if the food was as good as last time.

In relating that back to our industry, most agencies are much of a much ness, and this is a people industry. A good agency is there to provide a quality service, and always remember that. Far too often I hear of designers complained that the work is not demanding enough, or MD wanting to move clients in a different direction to fulfil their stated corporate aims - in fact sometimes you get the feeling that some agencies are doing the clients a favour by working for them - you are lucky to have me working for you on this (bit harsh but I'm sure have all seen that occasionally). I think it is no co-incidence that some of the best Account Managers / Directors - come from a Catering background - it is a thankless task, but essentially the aim of the catering industry is to provide a good service, get a tip and perhaps see them again - is that really any different?

I'd really welcome your thoughts on this, I know there are other areas that make agencies better than each other, but remember the question - what makes a good agency?