First off you should know, dear reader, that I mostly loathe my competitors. An angry, mangy, junkyard dog got to chewing on my Competitive Bone when I was up-n-coming, and now a red mist tends to descend over my eyes when I think about the competition.
But then I meet some pretty cool people in my travels, like Morgan McLintic of LewisPR (viva the independents!), who sent me a note about my Dyson post. I removed the ability to comment on my posts, because every 4th comment was porn spam, so, I am posting Morgan's comment verbatim, below...
"Hey Todd - your point is well made that over-reliance on one anchor account is a strategic risk. That client can suck up talent, will often be unpopular to work on, and can be damaging when it goes. Witness the recent changes associated with the Sun move as a good case in point.
"And agencies should also diversify to spread risk. That means different sectors sure, but also geographic diversification. If you are over-reliant on one country - that too is a risk. I think then that while you don't just want to have a policy of putting flags on the map, it is important to push internationally into new markets. Then you are hedged against recession in any one, just as you are hedged against industrial sector recession.
"There are risks involved in this but PR is not a capital intensive industry. As you say, find a talented person and give them room to deliver on their potential.News is global. Markets are global. And agencies need to respond to that. There's a risk in being too domestic too, so the balance is often a hard one."
For the record, I agree on all fronts. Great minds think alike, eh, Morgan?