Is anything actually free of tariffs in the current environment? That’s the $64,000 question. By definition, a tariff is a tax levied on imported goods or, believe it or not, services. Applying tariffs to services can be more complex than applying them to goods, especially for digital services that don’t necessarily cross borders in the same way as physical goods. However, it can be done. As we have witnessed in recent weeks, anything can be done.
But let’s be clear: marketing and public relations services do not answer, at least the last time I woke up to a loud ringing in my ear, to a higher authority. So, while there are no tariffs on marketing, there are companies being charged by agencies rates as high as three times the rates of other comparable agencies, which may seem like a tariff on services.
Of course, not all companies realize they are paying 100 to 300 percent higher for talent skilled from agencies groomed from similar pedigrees. Pedigrees defined by those big brand agencies ranked in the top 20 or owned by holding companies like Omnicom, WPP, IPG, Publicis. We know them. We came from many of them.
The other variable that seems to warrant those tariff-like rates… your office address. New York. Washington, DC, San Francisco. I love all those cities. And those cities come with high real estate costs, even after COVID. However, what they don’t come with is high office occupancy. It seems like some time in 2023, rates should have leveled off when the workforce became hybrid, at least a bit. Fair?
We have a flex workplace, and in 2024, when our lease was up, we reduced our footprint by 40 percent but invested in a new space to ensure the workplace experience was more of a draw from the comfort and convenience of home, sweet, home. However, we didn’t pass that expense on to the client in any form or fashion; instead, we continued to hold our rates, steadfastly.
The point is, we don’t believe there’s a place for inflating goods or services, tariff or no tariff. Sure, some areas of the country, the world, warrant higher costs. Some businesses are better than others and deserve a premium. I’m not suggesting otherwise.
If we were to draw a parallel from sport, maybe we could find agreement. Having just come off of America’s most recent distraction—thankfully, college basketball—we ask ourselves, is the team that just won March Madness 300 percent better than the remaining field in the Final Four. I think not. Even UConn Women’s basketball, which won a record 12th national championship, lost three games this year, which means they’re not even 100 percent better than anyone in the league. Imagine if each of these two national champions claimed NIL dollars 300 times the amount of those in the Final Four, how would that sit? Or 100 percent more than the top 20?
Whether it’s on the court, the field, borders between countries, budget negotiations between agencies, it’s okay to want your worth. That’s very different than getting what you think you can get. That’s simply a different philosophy altogether. Maybe that’s part of the reason we are in this tariff mess: because everyone is so focused on how much they can get. We have lost sight of fair Trade. Fair Service. If Fair Service is what you believe, you know where to find us.
