Agency Selection and Management

It is the case that a large amount of most marketing functions output is delivered by agencies. Therefore selecting the right agency and managing agencies well can be critical to success.

 

We have experience of appointing, and working with and in, the best agencies.

We also have had exposure to clients and agencies of many different cultures, styles and quality, both locally and internationally.

This means we are well placed to manage agency selection processes for clients. We will audit your needs and then explain agency types and how they will evaluate you as a client, to propose an agency shortlist. We can then work with you on a suitable pitch brief and evaluation process.

Once the agency is appointed as a general rule, we suggest that clients pay their agencies fairly and treat them well, and in return you should expect excellence from them. We also understand how frustrating and naive agencies can sometimes be and can assist with dealing with that.

We are shocked by the number of times we come across clients who try and pay their agencies as little as possible and then treat them unreasonably, and then complain about their performance! Agencies need to be managed as well as personnel.

Some of the agencies we’ve worked with:

Examples of our work

(Click on the image to find out more)

NESTLE

Nestle impress us. Of the multinational FMCG businesses it is the most flexible and adaptable, maybe along with Pernod-Ricard.

We were appointed to identify portfolio priorities and define key brand propositions.

MINETTE WALTERS

Our first publishing project.

Defining audience, brand, and communications plan.

Very successful.

STELLA ARTOIS

Stella Artois has long been one of Britain’s most successful beer brands. But it hasn’t always been plane sailing. It has gone through several periods of decline.

We got involved during the last one. A repositioning was planned. The ad agency wasn’t sure that was right. They suggested we have a look.

V&A

Big initiatives hadn’t resulted in big growth in visitor numbers.

We were appointed to find out why and propose actions.

Soho has been at the heart of London’s sex industry for over 200 years.

Between 1778 and 1801, no 21 Soho Square was the location of The White House, one of Britain’s most notorious brothels.

In recent years the visibility of the sex industry has diminished considerably, although it is still there to be seen, particularly towards the southern end of Soho.