Bajkowski + Partners WBE Certification Renewed for 2025

Posted on October 25, 2024October 25, 2024 by Bajkowski + Partners

Bajkowski + Partners LLC (B+P), a strategic marketing and agency resource management consultancy, is proud to announce its re-certification as a Women’s Business Enterprise by the New York Chapter of the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC).

WBENC Certification is the gold standard for women-owned business certification in the United States.

Laura Bajkowski, principal and owner of B+P, finds that “WBE certification enhances our reputation among Fortune 500 clients that strive to provide smaller and independently owned consultancies with opportunities to work on key initiatives that have major impact on their business success.”

WBENC’s meticulous vetting process, which includes an in-depth review of a business structure, operations, policies and business plan, is designed to confirm the business is at least 51% owned, operated, and controlled by a woman or women.

By including women-owned businesses among their suppliers, corporations and government agencies demonstrate their commitment to fostering diversity and the continued development of their supplier diversity programs, which in turn empowers women as leaders and brings about a more diverse, balanced and sustainable economy.

WBENC Certification, combined with professional development and engagement in the WBENC network, provides unsurpassed opportunities year-round, both virtually and in-person, for women-owned businesses to grow and expand their business and innovation through events, programming and connections with major corporations and other WBEs

Please follow the links to learn more about Bajkowski + Partners services and clients, or to discuss a potential project.

About Bajkowski + Partners LLC:

Founded in 2007, Bajkowski + Partners is a New York limited liability company headquartered in New York City, with senior consultants across the U.S. and Canada, and partners in EMEA and APAC. B+P 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.

About WBENC:
Founded in 1997, WBENC is the nation’s leader in women’s business development and the leading third-party certifier of businesses owned and operated by women, with more than 18,000 certified Women’s Business Enterprises, 14 national Regional Partner Organizations, and more than 500 Corporate Members, most of which are Fortune 500. Thousands of corporations representing America’s most prestigious brands, as well as many states, cities, and other entities, look for and accept WBENC Certification. Through the Women Owned initiative, WBENC also is a leader in supporting consumer-oriented female entrepreneurs and those who do business with them by raising awareness for why, where and how to buy Women Owned. For more information, visit www.wbenc.org and www.buywomenowned.com.

More Women CMOs, Fewer Women Running Agencies

Posted on October 9, 2019February 10, 2021 by Bajkowski + Partners

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.

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

Posted on October 7, 2019February 10, 2021 by Bajkowski + Partners

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.

Old Voiceover Stereotypes In Marketing Still Prevail. Why?

Posted on June 25, 2019December 11, 2019 by Bajkowski + Partners

Research shows that female voiceovers are more generally effective when targeting women

Each year marketers spend millions on carefully crafted creative for each media channel in hopes of emotionally connecting with consumers, yet stereotypes still prevail when it comes to talent. Many articles have been written about hiring more female directors through the Free the Bid campaign, but little attention has been given to talent selection – particularly voiceovers.

In our previous client-side jobs and even today as we advise clients, there is still a prevalent belief that male voiceover talent is more effective than female VO’s. And that’s simply not true.

Research then, and still today, shows that male and female voiceover talent are equally effective. However, there can be engagement differences depending upon the product and the core audience as revealed in an article published last November in Media Village.

Author Pierre Bouvard writes, “Marketers spend millions on establishing their brands and want to know what’s driving campaign return-on-investment (ROI). That’s where third-party companies like Nielsen come in – to connect the dots with data. In an ROI study of 500 advertising campaigns, Nielsen looked at which elements contribute to sales on all major media platforms. By a huge margin, creative was the strongest sales driver. It was responsible for nearly 50% of all sales lift…Women in fact prefer female voiceovers in AM/FM radio ads.”

Mr. Bouvard’s article has great data points and graphs from Nielsen that reveal just how more effective female voiceovers can be when targeting women – so give it a read.