"When brands measure the distance between agencies competing for their business, they consider a number of criteria - from creative pedigree to digital capabilities to cost. It's often left to a company's procurement team to consider the latter, weighing up not just budgetary concerns, but opportunities to boost further business growth. Typically, that process isn't a welcome one for marketing and advertising agencies, given the contempt for marketing activity historically exhibited by C-suite power brokers."
"Compared with 10 years ago, he says "it's night and day." Schuster, now agency and marketing partnerships lead, global strategic marketing, for pharmaceutical firm Bayer, worked in procurement roles for years for Puma and later Adidas. "In the early days it was a classic procurement function, but that has really changed. The most sophisticated procurement teams have very skillful people from the agency sides and marketing sides."
Brands evaluate agencies on creative pedigree, digital capabilities, and cost, with procurement often assessing budget and growth opportunities. Agencies commonly mistrust procurement, viewing procurement as a potential obstacle to creative work. Courting procurement teams as well as brand marketers can improve agencies' chances of winning new business. Procurement teams have become more skilled at interacting with agencies compared with a decade ago. Many procurement professionals bring agency and marketing experience, enabling more nuanced, strategic conversations. Discussions now extend beyond rate-card negotiation to consider a complex ecosystem of marketers, agencies, consultants, tech platforms, companies, and other stakeholders.
Read at The Drum
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