Former P&G ad head raps poor briefs

Former Procter & Gamble advertising development director Mike Durham has hit out at clients for producing shoddy agency briefs.

Former Procter & Gamble advertising development director Mike Durham has hit out at clients for producing shoddy agency briefs.

He says: “A lot of people go into advertising projects who are woefully unprepared with briefs you could drive a coach and horses through.”

Speaking at a Marketing Society of Scotland meeting on Monday, he said ignorant clients are to blame for production companies billing excessive budgets. “There is a ratecard for everything but it is only the client that ends up paying it. You have to be able to look at a storyboard and know what it is worth.”

He also criticised agencies for failing to actually show a product and what it can do in the advertisement. The exception to this is haircare advertising, he says.

Durham, who spent 15 years with P&G and retired at the end of 1997 has set up his own advertising consultancy.