The Belgians are revolting!

Exciting times in Belgium – yes, you did read that correctly!

A number of leading international and local agencies from the land of Poirot, Charlemagne and Enzo Scifo, including our esteemed colleagues at Ogilvy, have united, shut down their websites and gone on virtual strike for a week.

Their actions, organised by the local Association of Communication Companies (ACC) express their displeasure at the failure by clients to adhere to charter guidelines that limit the number of agencies invited to pitch for speculative business.

The message, in the form of an open letter (in English) to clients explains that too many agencies pitching against each other means time,  energy and just as importantly in these times of financial misery, money are wasted… to the detriment of existing clients.

The letter is split across the sites of the participating agencies and is read in the correct order regardless of which site a user starts on. As more agencies join the campaign, so the letter divides itself to ensure each site carries a portion of the message.

Quite whether clients heed the message and change their ways or not remains to be seen, however the agencies should at least be commended for standing up for themselves rather than simply grumbling in the shadows.