Scammed by Charity - Let Down by Agency - Same Effect

I took my daughter to some play group thing last week and got a visit from 2 guys doing a charity collection (treeofhope)- now i don't normally give unprompted to charity collectors for two reasons
1. I carry a cynical attitude that it will all go in overheads or its a dodgy charity area that should be covered by state etc
2. I am basically quite tight! (charity begins at home...)
However - due to everyone else there chipping in £5 i did same. And felt good about myself.
and then i read the leaflet
- it was full of words like "children", "Sick", "care" "generosity". But i could not work out what the hell they actually did.
- and then the killer - "34% of money collected will go to charity". Jesus - so £3.33 of any fiver goes to collectors etc.

This experience has obviously stopped any future impulsive donations stone dead.

So - what has that got to do with the agency world - well, i come across clients all the time who bought an "SEO solution", "facebook campaign" "behavioral targetting campaign" a year or two ago and received nothing that we in the industry would recognise as such under those headings.

They spent £xxxx on a social media launch - and got a facebook page, a couple of articles posted on their site and posted on an unloved twitter feed. In essence - they felt ripped off like me above.

net effect - they dont want to invest again and run risk of being let down again and it prob delays by 1.5 - 2 years properly adopting really effective ways to recruit/engage/commuincate with their audience.

What i really like about the stuff i see out there from suppliers now (the one's i admire anyway!) is sensible objectives, realistic estimations of level of commitmemt needed internally and budgets that enable good work but not out of whack with other priorities in client.

result - happy client, quality results, more investment, open to new ideas.

I did meet a nice woman in the street at lunchtime though who seemed very nice and i think she must have worked for Oxfam as she had a branded bib on and a direct debit is so easy to set up....