Older women in leadership

More Women CMOs, Fewer Women Running Agencies

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According to a recent article in AdAge.com, nearly half of all marketing leadership roles were filled with women in Q1 and Q2 2019.

While most of these women were hired into CMO roles in financial services and the natural resources industry, the claim that ‘gender parity’ is almost here seems premature.

Another AdAge.com article states that women in ad, media and tech communities don’t fair as well. Corporate and executive positions held by women slipped one point over 2019 from 30% to 29%.

And while there were some gains by women of color, women and people of color seem to lack the mentorship opportunities to gain exposure to the necessary initiatives and P&L management experience one needs to advance to more senior levels.

If approximately half of all entry level positions in advertising, media and technology are filled by women, then companies are failing to provide equal opportunities for advancement for women.

So achieving gender and diversity parity is still not here, and more needs to be done to grow the number of women CMOs and agency leaders.

Saying that is takes time, or women take themselves out of the job market, is just an excuse for failure to create equal advancement opportunities.

Then there’s the ageism thing – 40 is being treated as the new 70 when really 70 is the new 40.

No wonder more entrepreneurs are women of a certain age.

Bajkowski + Partners LLC is a leading consultancy providing services to marketing and procurement teams in the areas of agency relationship management, agency search, process audits, contract and SOW development and audits, and other marketing operations related areas.

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data integrity and insights

Global Media Measurement Initiative Launched

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Alignment on media measurement, transparency and contract compliance have long been a navigation challenge for global marketers.

What’s considered a ‘best practice’ in media measurement and management varies between regions and can be also be country-specific.

Despite the irregularities identified in the 2016 K2 report, it seems very little has changed – perhaps until now.

A new global initiative was just launched to develop global standards and best practices for media measurement.

According to the Association of Canadian Advertisers‘ press release, “The‘Cross Media Working Group’ as it has been named… aims to find cross-industry consensus on key global principals for measurement, with broadcasters, digital platforms and measurement companies also involved in the initiative.”

Members of this alliance, which is being led by the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA), is “comprised of global advertisers EA, Mastercard, P&G and Unilever, as well as advertising associations from around the world: the ACA (Canada), the ANA (US), ISBA (UK), OWM (Germany), Union des Marques (France) and the Media Rating Council. Key digital platforms and publishers including Facebook, Google and Twitter are also participating in the initiative, as are leading broadcasters.”

As agency relationship management consultants to global marketers, we are hopeful that the group will achieve alignment on media management best practices quickly.

To read the full details of this global media measurement initiative visit acaweb.ca
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analytics meeting

Is ’40 the new 70′ the Latest Marketing Trend?

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If you look at the marketing industry, it seems that way. Welcome to the new ‘grey attrition’

While it’s been a ‘young person’s business’ at ad agencies for a long time, corporate marketing jobs also seem to be ‘out with the old, in with the new’ – unless you’re the CMO. Whether at an ad agency or on the brand side, this is a disturbing marketing trend.

Seems like we receive at least one email a month from a colleague who has a friend / colleague that’s suddenly unemployed and, because they’re over 40, run into a ‘grey wall’ with human resources or job app websites.

One man of a certain age, according to a recent Digiday article, spent the last three years as a permalancer while he looks for a permanent advertising agency gig.

There are likely many factors driving this new ageism in the marketing industry.

One such culprit is certainly marketers driving down agency comp. This eventually forces advertising agencies to find cheaper talent solutions. And eventually marketers complain that the agency team is too junior and, worst yet, fires the agency.

Mergers and acquisitions, consolidations, and reorganizations also contribute to ‘grey attrition’ at both clients and agencies as they unload higher salaried staffs.

Whatever reason you come up with, it is still a human one.

It’s time marketers and agencies rethink scopes, and staffing – on both sides.

Pressures to increase ROI need to factor in the value of experienced human capital.

With that ‘grey attrition’ also goes your knowledge base. Indiana Jones once said, “It’s not the years, it’s the mileage.”

We’d argue that it can be both.

Mileage doesn’t always ensure wisdom. And ‘the years’ doesn’t mean you hit the brakes on learning.

Let’s stop and rethink this marketing trend.

Bajkowski + Partners is a global consultancy with practices in Agency Search and Selection Management, Agency Performance and Relationship Management, Marketing Organization and Optimization, and Brand and Marcomm Management.

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ad agencies are not banks for clients

When did Agencies and Vendors become banks for their Clients?

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Increased pressure from brands on their agencies and vendors to extend payment windows is greater than ever

Mega brands such as General Mills and Chrysler are seemingly throwing their weight around, conducting agency searches of which agency payment  terms have reached a new low – or should we say high?

General Mills’ recent creative agency review reportedly demanded a payment window of 120 days. And according to a post on Digiday, “Chrysler succeeded in pushing its payment window to 180 days last fall…And around the same time…a big brand started asking for payment terms of a full year, according to the 4As, which received complaints from creative and media agencies about the terms.”

The client in that latter situation asked agencies to “work out a deal where on paper it looked as if the agencies had agreed to payment terms of one year”. Often this results in having agencies and vendors pre-bill far in advance and reconcile later.

So in reality, cash-flow management has not improved.

At least that’s what occurs with some of our clients and agencies, whether we’re handling a search or modernizing their agency contracts that have to include such burdensome corporate-wide payment windows that go beyond a 30-day period.

The Digiday article further reveals that marketers requiring these abnormally long payment periods assume agencies will get financing to cover the widening payment to expense gap.

Yet the client won’t pay the financing fees.

Clients should realize that such demands, if an agency acquiesces, can become part of the agency overhead – so you’re still paying the finance charges.

Equally troublesome is the use of third-party invoice processing systems that charge agencies for every invoice that is submitted – non-reimbursable of course.

Agencies are in the business of driving brand revenue through their communications expertise, not money-lenders to clients.

Wonder if client-side staff would be okay with being paid 120 days out.

Definitely not.

Is this what clients really mean by wanting agencies to be their partners?

Probably not.

Yet here we have another strain on client-agency relationships.

Related content: agency search management, client-agency relationship management, agency roster modeling, agency contract and compensation negotiations.

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