Taking over PPC from an agency

[realmaverick]

Hey guys,

I've just taken on a new role as in-house digital strategist. One of my roles will be taking over the companies PPC from the current agency.

They refused to give access to the account and instead offered to export the campaigns for us to use in a new account.

This will obviously mean we'll have no historical data, no idea how the campaigns performed etc etc.

Are they legally allowed to do this? It seems dodgy to me. But then I've never worked for an agency.

Many thanks!

 

[realitybytes]

Sounds about right to be honest.... you see they will be using their own account to run your campaign in, this account will have secure details, like bank details and possible other accounts linked to it. So technically if you're ending your campaign with them, they will have to shut it down.

There are two possibles when agencies take over, either they run your campaigns through your own account or offer to run an account through their accounts, so when you part ways, you can't take your account with you.

The fact they are willing to pass your campaign data across to you via a file which is a good thing, I've heard to people/companies who ended their campaigns with an agency and got nothing in terms of campaign data, so they had to start from scratch. So you're not in a bad situations to be honest.

 

[james_firmsites]

Sorry but I think that is fair, most agencies run on the basis of your paying based on ongoing work. They will likely have your account as part of an MCC making it hard to move (if even possible...) and to hand over the account would be giving away a lot extra work they have put into it.

The legality is all about the contract they signed with the adwords agency. It varies from company to company. If your concerned why not ask how much it would cost to transfer the whole account? They have good reasons for not doing it for free, but might be open to a sensible price that is more cost effective than starting fresh.

 

[directmarketingadvice]

This will obviously mean we'll have no historical data, no idea how the campaigns performed etc etc.

That's probably not a big deal.

If the campaigns were working so well, then your employer wouldn't have moved the management in house. (Unless they're crazy.)

Steve

 

[alexdigital]

Hey,

Sounds a bit dodgy to me.

I've managed PPC (AdWords) for years and I use an MCC for client accounts. All my clients have there own accounts with logins and have a relationship with Google.

They can easily grant access to others or take it away.

I would get in contact with whoever the PPC is with (Google maybe) and tell them what's going on. They may be able to get the account back for you..

-Alex

 

[Will Blears]

OK let's get one thing straight:

There are two types of agency:

1. Are a bunch of bullsh*tting liars largely inexperienced and simply rely on their sales departments to promise the world and deliver absolutely nothing. It is these and only these agencies which would not give you access to the PPC account.

2. The other type of agency are those who are much more honest, generally provide read only access to the account and would definitely move the account to the new agency/in house when the time came to parting ways.

The first type of agency always gets the client to sign a contract which says they own the account and that clients do not get access to the account and therefore when you request access they can simply say no and continue to do so.

Why do they not give you access?

Well firstly, it's nothing to do with company information such as billing details or other client details because each account is a separate entity under an MCC so giving access to one individual account, quite frankly is easy peasy.

The real reason they don't give you access is simple, they have something to hide and in most cases it's the fact they have not given you the true costs of advertising. They will be sending you a weekly/monthly report which shows a cost which also includes a 30-60% markup on what it is actually costing you, this isn't actually allowed yet one of the largest and sh*ttest agencies in the world does this and gets away with it very easily.

So, if ANY of you cannot get access to your Google Adwords account I tell you right now to move, move now, stop reading this and get on the phone and tell them it's over, end that relationship and save your self a lot of money and hassle.

 

[realitybytes]

this isn't actually allowed yet one of the largest and sh*ttest agencies in the world does this and gets away with it very easily.

Interesting? Where about's do Google state this about not being allowed? Thinking another way... surely if their markup is fair and the campaigns are performing well then all is good - it's all about investment>results? And can you name the agency that operates like this so we are aware of them?

 

[Chris Ashdown]

Contact adwords and ask there advice, it does not seem logical that they cannot change ownership to you as all accounts would be separate under google

If you have access to the campaigns you could use Google adwords editor to make a copy which should include the history or at least some of it

 

[Will Blears]

You can read about Google's third party policy here (cant post a link yet...) - Google Search (google adwords third party policy)

Also, a quote from the above link:

"When sharing Google advertising cost data with customers, report the exact amount charged by Google, exclusive of any fees that you charge."

As my previous post suggested, the first type of agencies provide reports only with their markup added which is not the exact amount charged by Google, and instead is the actual CPC with an additional markup.

Also, I am not debating whether or not it's fair to charge a mark up on advertising services as this is fairly standard practice across other channels so why not across search. However, what I am saying I disagree with is the very dishonest practice of doing so without actually communicating it clearly with the client and giving them so little access and clarity on what they are actually paying for. I honestly think it's bad practice & shows such a strong intent to think only about their own business, rather than care about the profit and growth of their clients.

In regards to companies who do this, Reach Local are amongst the largest who have been found to do this.

 

[realmaverick]

Hey guys, many thanks for all the valuable input.

The company have no idea how well the Adwords was performing in the grand scheme, they just entrusted the company.

Here's the really frustrating part; while the agency created the account, the company pay the bill direct to Google. This account only contains the companies data and nobody else's.

From what I understand they signed the TOS. But the company I'll be working for paid the bill.

I've been leasing with the company and their reason for refusal is nothing more than "policy".

But Im pushing them as hard as I can. Next step is to contact Google and see how I get on there.

Thanks again for all the valuable info.

 

[realmaverick]

Small update; I've done some digging and the agency ARE using MCC to access the company adwords account. The adwords account contains the business credit card.

It also appears it was never ever made clear that if the company at any point decided to leave, they don't actually own the account.

We're still pushing but they're sticking to their guns. I asked why they want our data, they said and I quote;

"If we are approached by a client in the same niche, we will use this account for them. We're a business after all".

I was dumbfounded that they admitted this and makes me even more uncomfortable. The companies spend is huge. It feels really underhand what they're doing.

 

[realmaverick]

That's probably not a big deal.

If the campaigns were working so well, then your employer wouldn't have moved the management in house. (Unless they're crazy.)

Steve

The big deal is; on a £4,000 ad spend for example, will become much greater for the first month or so while the new account obtains data.

However, it doesn't appear the account has been well managed as I was granted access to analytics, which contained the adwords data.

 

[Will Blears]

"If we are approached by a client in the same niche, we will use this account for them. We're a business after all".

That's ridiculous, this company sound absolutely awful. Are they a local agency or nationwide?

However, it doesn't appear the account has been well managed as I was granted access to analytics, which contained the adwords data.

It won't of been well managed, that's made obvious by the fact that you didn't have access to the Google Adwords account and therefore a company like this has no reason at all to put any effort in to the management and optimisation of the account.

This is exactly what happens when companies don't investigate what they are really getting when signing contracts with third party agencies.

 

[realmaverick]

I agree Will. The really sad part is; the owner of the company I work for genuinely believed the company had his best interests at heart and knew the owner on a personal level.

They'd also paid for SEO and yet the site speed of the website they built is 40/100 and there are absolutely no links built beyond a few directory links.

Absolute bunch of opportunist fraudsters as far as I can see.

I'm going to work my butt off in this new job, to correct all the wrongs and give the company the service they deserved from the start.

 

[Chris Ashdown]

Would they be breaking data protection laws if they use your companies data for another company

I would suggest the MD gets involved with his frend and asks why this valuable data is lost to his company when they have paid for it and its a simple thing to change ownership of the adwords account

Have you contacted Google about the situation to see what they say about it