Enterprise Task 4 - Who else is out there//how good are they?

For this task I have been asked to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of 3 practitioners/agencies; however it would naturally be quite a task to identify the flaws of a successful agency; undoubtedly if the flaws were significant they would not be successful as an agency; clients would not return to make use of their service. 

I would say the majority of successful agencies/practitioners share many similar strengths, these being the common foundations of ANY successful company, graphic design or otherwise.

In essence, successful designers are those that offer a unique product; something that sets them apart from the crowd. Although it invariably goes a bit deeper than this; undoubtedly in the field of design the measure of success of an agency is how much money the client sees after implementing design work. Therefore the more money a product/service makes, the more successful the agency, the more the agency can charge; and the strengths of this company become what makes for any successful agency. 

In my particular case, I would be competing with other designers involved in the music industry (not the mainstream thing; i'm on about indie labels and small collectives etc), and in that sort of situation it almost always pays to know someone in the game, which perhaps presents quite a challenge. I don't feel as though I would be in any way better than those who are successful at what they do already; at best I could equal the standards these people are at.