“I’d like 3 ads, 7 TV spots, 2 emails, some direct mail and a website”
It seems rather strange to me when you consider how fast marketing has changed, yet so many big businesses revert back to age-old methods to secure their next great advertising campaign and/or firm. Despite the fact their old-fashioned processes do not work!
Specifically, I’m referring to allowing “procurement” to handle the RFP duties to help their companies save money and treat the process of an advertising agency search as just another can of wax in their quest for their next full service marketing agency that will give them the biggest creative bang for the deepest discounted price.
I just went through this process with a big insurance company and my firm, Johnson Direct, did not make it to “round two” of the process. Never mind that our documented successes includes the likes of AAA Life, Northwestern Mutual, GMAC Insurance, CUNA Mutual, Humana, 13 different blue cross plans, and at least another dozen, reputable insurance companies. We must have answered the fill-in-the-blank questionnaire incorrectly (maybe they didn’t like our choice of font?). Or, perhaps we refused to give away the farm, err, I mean firm.
In my world great advertising and marketing begins with goals and a budget. From there, you can present ROMI scenarios that make sense and you can even volley-up a testing plan that may help the company even exceed their stated goals.
Am I biased? Well, results should matter. If your marketing produces results, it’s an investment, not an expense. It’s not like that can of spam that the cafeteria is serving up for lunch today. Seriously, have you ever tried to reason with someone in procurement? Nice folks, they just don’t GET marketing and they surely don’t understand the concept of direct, measurable marketing. I know, I’ve been dealing with these folks for 25 years and, win or lose; the model just does not work.
Isn’t it time for businesses worldwide to get with the times? The 1970’s are long gone.
Email This Post
Related Topics: Branding, Opinons, Creative, Multichannel Marketing, Advertising/Media, Metrics/ROI
September 2nd, 2010 at 8:26 pm
I hear you, but do you know who you were up against? Are you maybe inferring causality that isn’t quite there?
“Am I biased? Well, results should matter.” I’m sure your results mattered to them. Maybe it wasn’t a good fit. Maybe your competitors had better results. Maybe you were just looking for an excuse to rant?
The rest of the points you make are obscured by the story you are telling. I’m against the rigid procurement process and their lack of understanding of marketing, but maybe that wasn’t to blame here. Maybe they just thought they’d be treated like every other insurance company you’ve dealt with. It sounds like you were about to treat them like that yourself.
September 3rd, 2010 at 11:23 am
Perhaps underwriting should sell insurance. That’s an apt analogy.
Actually, I am the opposite of bitter. We are fortunate to have plenty of business because our clients understand that the marketing we do on their behalf works and leads to more work from them and even referrals.
For the record, I have won more of these cattle calls than lost. If a fill-in-the blank process that must be followed, one that does not allow you to tell your success stories is the process, which was the case here, than I guess they got what they asked for. In hindsight we should have declined to respond.
True, my competitors may have better results, but when you have several case studies that show a combination of better response rates, better conversion to insured’s and decreased marketing investments because of better use of data analytics, then that argument would not make sense. In my 25 years in this business I have lost less than a handful of times due to another agency having better, demonstrable results.
We found out they invited 18, yep 18 agencies and 15 responded and they have narrowed it down to those few for round 2. EVERY campaign we undertake is customized to the client’s needs and goals, so I really hope they did not get the impression we were treating them like every other insurance company we work with, but their required format prevented that differentiation from occurring anyway.
Thanks for your comments to the post and well thought through response.
September 7th, 2010 at 8:36 pm
I think your going to regret this post in the morning. You come off as unprofessional and whiny and pompous, and seem to feel that you know how to run this potential client’s business better than they do. Your post has that new-grad smell.
If I was shopping for a new agency and saw this post, I would eliminate your agency just to ensure that I/we didn’t have to deal with you, personally.
What you do is a commodity. Sorry.
September 8th, 2010 at 9:09 pm
I’ve graduated! Most people call me sophomoric. Thanks for the feedback.