FRANK COMMUNICATION

http://www.frankwards.ro/ Bogdan CRISTEA Group 121 cristeabobi@yahoo.com

Abstract: In my project I have written about the SME Frank Communication in order to show the way this company functions. Things I have analyzed: the business, the market and the managerial functions. I have done this in order to obtain a complete and organized description of the company in terms of management. I used all my knowledge and information I have obtained from an employee of Frank. The information provided to me by this person proved along the way to be invaluable. However I think that a better insight on this company can only be gained by reading the following project.

Keywords : advertising , clients, functional structure, SME. INTRODUCTION Over the course of the following minutes I will present the SME Frank Communication . The presentation is structured into three parts. In the first part I will present the SME itself, the current business, the services it offers, its history, its management and human resources and financial information. In the second part I will make a market analysis by describing the industry of the SME, its clients, its suppliers and its competitors. It contains information gathered from an employee of the company . And last but not least, the third part: the managerial functions. Planning , Leading, Organizing and Controlling of Frank Communication.

1. Business Description 1.1 Current Business

Frank is a communication and strategy agency , a limited liability company, which is specialized in advertising, new media, brand analysis and consultancy. The organizations focus is driving their clients sales, promoting their brands wherever this might be possible and last but not least forging lasting relationships with their customers. Frank does not count itself amongst the very well established companies from this industry, like iLeo Marketing Interactive , Hyperactive or Infinit Solutions. Frank was founded on September the first, 2008. In barely 3 years of history , Frank has evolved from a company with 15 employees to a company with more than 30 employees and contracts with companies such as Pepsico, ASIROM, Skoda or Piraeus Bank. 1.2 Services The main goal at Frank is to generate and implement ideas with focus on achieving their clients marketing objectives, no matter what they may be. Until now, Frank has worked with a number of important clients such as Romtelecom, Piraeues Bank, ASIROM, Skoda, Pepsico, Heineken, Gregorys or Sharp. Frank develops relevant content for specific targets, Creates specific engagement platforms(Virals, Social networking sites , Corporate websites or Blogs ,Internal communication platforms etc.) Frank applies social media strategies and solutions . Some are based on every-day life questions such as: What ( is your objective)?; Where ( to open the dialogue with the target audience)?; How( to start the dialogue and how to achieve the objectives)?; while others are simpler , such as earned/ owned/ bought space strategies or reputation management. They also apply online media solutions such as online shops, ordering systems, affiliate marketing platforms , search engine marketing, SEO strategies , Google AdWords, online campaigns/ special advertising projects or e-mail marketing.

1.3 History of Frank Frank was established on september1st in 2008 by two young entrepreneurs, one from Austria and one from Greece who noticed that entry barriers in this specific industry were not as high as in others. This and also because of the creativity both observed in Romanians. At the core of Franks philosophy is this : Everybody is creative! And with this , Frank was born and from a startup with just fifteen employees in 2008 they evolved into a respectable company with widely-known clients In a world where communication and marketing today tend to become complicated business, we believe in the beauty of simple things, in keeping them fun and to the point. After all one can say youre really good at something only when you make that thing look simple. Welcome to a frank world. Creative. Strategic. Effective. Simple. Big thinking. Hard working. Experienced people. Fresh.Straight talking. Fast moving. Intuitive. Accurate. Energetic.Optimistic. Commercial. Insightful. Results focused. 1.4 Management team The upper management consists of the two managing-partners. However, their responsibilities differ a little. One is responsible with Developing and managing the companys operations in two countries- Romania and Bulgaria , generating new business for the company and managing the advertising, production, digital/online and BTL activities and clients brought to the agency include multinationals and regional companies such as Romtelecom, Sprider Stores, Kraft Paints . The other is responsible with strategic input & topics for evolving more ,online marketing and technical guidance , disciplined project management ,controlling, planning, dealing with daily processes and, essentially, turning creativity to reality. Middle management is represented by the Creative Director, and the Client Service Director followed by the Financial and Legal Department Coordinator.

1.5 Human Resources Frank has seen great development having reached over thirty employees. In November 2010 a number of people were hired at the same time the company moved its headquarters to Strada Caderea Bastiliei. The company has 2 managing partners, a CEO of MSPS which is the below the line part of Frank, a CEO of Oxygen PR, a creative and strategy director, two senior art directors, an art director, three copywriters, two web designers, a Flash expert, a TV producer, a DTP Graphic designer, a new business manager, a senior account manager, three account managers, a senior below the line client service manager, a technical director, a web architect, a web developer, an online marketing specialist, an

HTML/CSS coder, a programmer, a traffic manager, a financial and legal department coordinator and last but not least an assistant manager.

1.6 Financial Situation Financial situation at the 31st of December 2010 for Frank Communication (according to www.mfinante.ro) BILANT SCURT CONFORM ORDINULUI 1752/2005 lei 186253 2950937 26735 2636794 287408 944 3280814 42723 -185403 1000 Indicatori din CONTUL DE PROFIT SI PIERDERE Cifra de afaceri neta 7585234

Tip situatii financiare depuse

Indicatori din BILANT ACTIVE IMOBILIZATE - TOTAL ACTIVE CIRCULANTE - TOTAL, din care Stocuri (materiale, productie in curs de executie, semifabricate, produse finite, marfuri etc.) Creante Casa si conturi la banci CHELTUIELI IN AVANS DATORII - TOTAL VENITURI IN AVANS PROVIZIOANE CAPITALURI - TOTAL, din care: Capital social subscris varsat Patrimoniul regiei Patrimoniul public

VENITURI TOTALE CHELTUIELI TOTALE Profitul sau pierderea brut(a) -Profit -Pierdere Profitul sau pierderea net(a) a exercitiului financiar -Profit -Pierdere Indicatori din DATE INFORMATIVE Numar mediu de salariati Tipul de activitate, conform clasificarii CAEN

7666879 8266498

599619

657826

19 Activitati ale agentiilor de publicitate

2. Market Analysis
2.1 The Industry The advertising industry in Romania is rapidly growing, just like in most of the other countries and the GDP is being influenced in an increasingly large proportion by it. This industry has evolved beyond the role of intermediate between the manufacturer and companies and now is an important part of the economy of any country. Most advertising firms specialize in a specific market niche. Some companies produce and solicit outdoor advertising, such as billboards and electric displays. Others place ads in buses, subways, taxis, airports, and bus terminals. A small number of firms produce aerial advertising, while others distribute circulars, handbills, and free samples. Some surveys have shown that 44% of young Romanians consider unconventional advertising( e.g. in elevators, in toilets) creative and efficient while 73% consider unconventional media channels ( such as the online ones) more efficient than classic ones (TV, radio, newspapers, etc.). Frank nowadays, like most of the other advertising companies, focuses on internet advertising. The advertising environment is in a continuous change and what we are experiencing this years is a shift towards online advertising as internet has become available to a lot more people. 2.2 Clients Frank has had a number of clients up until now, some of them very popular . Romtelecom, ASIROM, Skoda, Piraeus Bank, Sharp, Samsung, Mobexpert, Sprider Stores, Pepsico, Olympus, Gregorys and Heineken are just the kind of clients a relatively new company needs in order to start affirming itself on the market and promoting its image so that in the future it may compete with currently better known brands. Usually clients come with requests for certain services and afterwards it is up to the company to the decide what to do. However some clients are more pretentious , demanding certain ways in which their brands should be promoted, thus limiting the capacity of the company to work at full creative capacity. 2.3 Suppliers Being an advertising company they do not need a great deal of suppliers. However they still need a number of them. The main ones would be the ones that provided them with computers, sheets of papers, ink and other materiel that is consumed during the creative process, the office suppliers. 2.4 Competitors Digital publicity in Romania has transformed into a very dynamic business with lots of players, both big and small, local and international.

Recently, iLeo Marketing Interactive has become the market leader in Romania, with a turnover of 1,6 million euro , followed by Hyperactive with a million euro on second place. These two are the only advertising companies which managed to obtain turnovers of over a million euro. Competition in these industry is mostly for the human resources and for the contracts with wellestablished firms. However, the bigger companies most of the time manage to attract the brightest minds from the smaller companies with higher wages or better working conditions or both. This is where leadership intervenes and has to avoid losing the most important employees to the competition.What keeps any company running is its clients so , obviously, the biggest battles are fought for the clients. Whoever gets the best or most clients can stay in business and progress. Each company has to provide something interesting, designs or previously successful media campaigns in order to attract the customers, because , ultimately, they are the ones that help companies grow.

3. Management Functions
3.1 Planning Planning is the first and base component of management. It involves recognizing the organizations goals and developing strategies to achieve these goals. This is called strategy planning. These strategies may have to be altered or completely changed constantly based on the macro and micro factors affecting an organization. Thus planning is a constant process. Even though all planning involves the same kind of thought process, different types of plans are made for different functions of an organization. There are two different ways of planning : time planning and objective planning. Since Frank is a full-service ad agency it prepares its activities and collaborations according to some objectives. However, the company and its plans are not dependant on time, as advertising is always requested by companies. But the company will have to take into consideration certain objectives in the planning process, objectives on which its future depend. Frank also has Gantt diagrams regarding every activity of the company. There are three types of planning: operational, strategic and tactical. The one that fits Frank best , in my opinion is the strategic planning, as advertising companies dont usually have short term objectives. They think over a longer period, trying to reach the goal of the organization overall, rather than just goals of certain divisions. Franks current objective is to continue its steady development and secure more and more deals with well-known clients that might help promote the companys image in the future. The vision of Frank is: Everybody is creative! The mission of Frank is to generate and implement ideas with focus on achieving their clients marketing objectives, no matter what they may be.

3.2 Organization Organizing is an important responsibility of a manager. Unless a manager manages in an organized manner, no work will get done. A managers organizational responsibilities include organizing the resources of an organization, identifying different roles, choosing the right people for these roles, delegating tasks to people, etc. He also has to ensure that the employees have the required resources to perform their tasks better. Inefficient organization can lead to chaos in the company.

3.2.1 Organizational Structure Managing Partners

Financial and Legal Department Coordinator

Client Service Director

Traffic Manager

Creative Director

Account Manager

Account Manager

Copywriter

Art Director

Art Director

Copywriter

Frank has 3 departments: creation, financial and client service.

3.3 Leading Even though many use the term managing and leading synonymously, nothing could be farther from the truth . Simply managing tasks means making people do their jobs. But leading means influencing and inspiring people in such a way that they feel motivated to do their jobs. People find it easier to follow a leader.

Following the orders of a manager is something that is done as a part of ones job, but following a leader is something that is done more willingly by people. Thus, every manager must aim at becoming a good leader. A leader focuses on interpersonal relations with each employee and constantly motivates them to perform better. By creating a positive working environment a leader can effectively help improve the employees job performance and hence their morale. The leaders at Frank are the managing partners and they have the hardest mission if them all, as they are the image of a small company that wants to affirm itself and often they themselves have to find clients and not wait for them to come . The style of leadership typical to Frank is the participative leadership as the leaders often put themselves as members of teams and decisions are always discussed before being taken. Leadership has other roles as well, such as trying to maintain employee satisfaction at a decent level so as the avoid the situation of losing them to the competition.

3.4 Controlling Controlling as the name suggests means controlling the various functions in the organization to ensure they are on track with the goals that were set at the beginning of the planning process. Controlling also involves setting certain performance standards for the employees and constantly evaluating their job performance. Is the process which insures that the work is done in the desired way and evaluate that the plans are properly executed or implemented Sometimes the strategies and plans that were developed and implemented may not work out as initially planned due to certain external factors. Controlling and evaluating helps a manager recognize these failures and quickly implement corrective measures to bring the task back on track. The leaders are always kept in touch with their employees so that things never get out of hand within the company. That does not mean that they limit the freedom of their employees in any way. However , their behavior at work and their results are sometimes observed by those in charge so as to make sure everything goes well.And in case certain things do not go well managers will not hesitate and take action immediately so as to remediate the problem for the greater good of the companyHowever discomforting this might be to certain employees , its benefits far outweigh its costs. Ultimately, as a consequence of controlling function we get an accurate measurement of the performance of the overall company and of each and every employee while effectiveness and efficiency are regulated.

Bibliography -www.frankwards.ro -Frank Works book- team credentials -Frank credentials http://www.expertmanage.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=122&Itemid=166