Agency Searches For Project Work On The Rise

Posted on April 4, 2017February 10, 2021 by Bajkowski + Partners

Over the past 18-months, we’ve seen a definite increase in the number of clients asking us to facilitate agency searches for project work.

Some clients are looking to expand their agency roster brain trust, while others want to test-drive a relationship before committing to further involvement.

While the reasons are varied, there are best practices as to how these types of searches should be implemented and here are some helpful tips:

Clarity – The project scope, agency selection criteria, and search plan need to be clear, in written format and vetted internally. And have the proposed master services agreement, which clearly defines the relationship and terms, ready and available to share with participating agencies.
Brevity – The search should have a short completion cycle, no more than 4-6 weeks, and limit the number of agencies under consideration to 6 when developing the agency slate.
Sans RFI – Proper pre-vetting should make a full blown RFI unnecessary and for a project…good luck finding an agency wanting to complete your 30+ questions!
Be Social – Select 3-4 agencies from your initial roster and meet with them – in person, not by phone! Go to their offices. Chemistry and cultural alignment is key to success.
Spec Work?! – Remember that this is a project, not an AOR search. Spec work is time-consuming and expensive for participating agencies, so unless you plan to pay them for it, don’t ask for it.
Ban FOMO – People always find an excuse as to why they need to be involved, but this is like taking your friends and family to your dates…and it actually doesn’t end well in the long run. Keep the agency selection team as small as you can make it, keeping it to those responsible for the project strategy and relationship management. If you’re an experienced and successful marketer, then you know how to make resourcing decisions. Still getting pressured? Use a RACI Matrix to manage your internal constituents’ involvement.

If you have questions or insights on conducting a project agency search, we’d love to hear from you.

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 a number of other marketing resource and marketing operations related areas. For more information, please visit our website.

How to Prevent Fraud in Production Bidding

Posted on December 20, 2016February 10, 2021 by Bajkowski + Partners

Advice from the DOJ

Back in 2002, the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division secured convictions that led to prison time for six executives in the Grey Worldwide / Color Wheel bid-rigging scheme. Rebecca Meiklejohn, a DOJ litigator, led the case which involved kickbacks and bid-rigging for production work on two of Grey’s largest accounts, Procter & Gamble Co. and Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. (Note: Grey was not the only agency that’s had isolated cases of misconduct by production staff.)

While speaking at the Association of National Advertisers’ Agency Financial Management conference back in 2005, Meiklejohn stated that it tends to be individuals within an agency that perpetrate these production related frauds despite any policies and best practices that agencies have in place. At the time, Meiklejohn recommended advertisers and their agencies require and enforce the following procedures to prevent procurement fraud:

Competitive Bidding – all bids must be secured in writing with date stamp and prior to submitting bids to the client
Conflict of Interest Policies – these need to be well defined and prohibit agencies from accepting any gratuities from suppliers
Paper Trail – thorough production files must be maintained and include all original as well as revised bids and client authorizations, and all with date stamps
Checks and Balances – agencies must have separate authority for awarding contracts from those approving supplier invoices, and clients must beware of telltale signs of improprieties, such as faxes without date stamps

Production Bid Management Challenges in the Digital Age

At Bajkowski + Partners, we’ve performed numerous process audits for clients that have included reviews of production management practices and we still uncover deficiencies within both the clients and their agencies. While we have not uncovered situations that indicate any intentional wrongdoing, we have seen several new production bid management challenges arise since production management went digital.

At the agencies, we typically find the following issues during a process and contract compliance audit:Continue reading→

Ad Agencies Under Investigation for Rigged Production Bidding Practices

Posted on December 7, 2016February 10, 2021 by Bajkowski + Partners

According to recent articles by The Wall Street Journal and Advertising Age, the Department of Justice has launched a probe into advertising agency practices around the production bidding process. The inquiry focuses on whether or not agencies are engaging in unfair business practices in order to award more work to their own in-house production departments – potentially violating antitrust laws which prohibit price-fixing and bid-rigging.

In this alleged rigged bidding process, according to the Journal, agencies are purported to seek inflated bids Continue reading→

Choice Hotels Launches Brand Refresh

Posted on March 25, 2015May 15, 2017 by Bajkowski + Partners

Choice Hotels Boosts Ad Budget by Double Digits, Launches Brand Refresh…New Campaign Encourages Face-to-Face Connections

Choice Hotels International is boosting its ad budget by 13% this year, as it undertakes a brand overhaul… The spot, which uses The Clash’s “Should I Stay or Should I go?” employs an approach… read more