Winning partnerships

Having the right agency partner can mean the difference between cutting-edge, award-winning programs and campaigns that merely meet objectives. A true partner will challenge thinking, anticipate potential problems – and proactively solve them – as well as excel at execution. So how do you select an agency who can deliver all that? Consider this: an agency will put 500 or more man-hours into the bidding process. How many hours do we as companies typically invest in making sure we hire the right partner? A fraction of that. We have conducted several competitive pitches at Pfizer recently and have learned that the best way to find the right partner is to invest in a thoughtful, thorough pitch process. The secret: it doesn’t have to take weeks to complete, but it does need to be rigorous.

Know what you need
The key to the success of the relationship with the agency is to make sure you as the client know what you need. In the fast-paced world of marketing and communications, it is not always easy. But it is absolutely key for the selection team to take the time to have a level-setting conversation to share and agree requirements; to align on the most important factors in the decision process; and to discuss potential agencies to include.

The evaluation criteria should be set at the outset of the request for proposal (RFP), not at the time of pitch. This will help to guarantee that the goals of the RFP are clear and that the criteria included in the pitch scorecard (see overleaf) are objective – on a qualitative basis. Additionally, the review team needs to assess the main criteria with an eye towards what’s most important and then weight/rank the criteria. Again, this should be done upfront and should not change through final selection.  Along with whatever scoring scheme you agree for the selection criteria, this will help to guarantee that the criteria included in the pitch scorecard are objective – on a quantitative basis.

If business requirements change during the process, then the review team will need to go back and reassess.  But nothing delays a decision like waffling on what’s really important.

This approach to developing the client’s needs and agency RFP/pitch evaluation not only ensures a fair, equitable and auditable process, but it also benefits the agency, as a client can provide tangible and constructive feedback, whether he won the pitch or not. And it starts the relationship between client and agency on a good footing.

Know the agency landscape
Pfizer has undergone a significant review of general requirements for marketing and communication agencies to create a roster of core preferred agencies. We then review current and potential agency partners on a regular basis.  This helps to ensure we can easily identify which agencies we might want to include. Perhaps most importantly, this helps us stay current on trends.

To evaluate the capabilities of agencies we don’t currently work with, in conjunction with our procurement colleagues, we hold informal informational sessions or send a request for information (RFI). 

We are interested in agencies that are doing exciting work, those with a strong reputation and agencies with impressive senior talent. We evaluate each agency’s capabilities against our needs. We look for deep experience in our therapeutic categories, teams, product offerings and regional market knowledge. 

One of the most important things to remember is to include the agencies you currently work with in the process. Agencies are constantly adding new offerings and people. As a result, even if you have a great team in place, you might be seeing the whole agency picture without giving them a chance to participate in competitive pitches.  

Make the most out of RFIs or RFPs
Knowing which agency criteria are most important to your success is the key to a good RFI. At Pfizer, agency talent is critical and, as such, we load an RFI with questions about agency talent, talent tenure, management and development. Also ask your potential agency partner to answer some non-traditional, strategic questions to see how it approaches a problem and to see how it thinks. To be fair to our potential agency partners, we try to keep questions to a minimum and to have a reasonable but fairly rapid turnaround. We’ve not always got these right, but we understand the burden to the agencies and are diligently working to evolve the process.

Top tips for working with procurement
Stereotypes have perhaps perpetuated the myth that working with procurement can be a nightmare or curse, especially in the area of marketing services and the various agency disciplines. However, over the past five years, we have learned that what was once approached with cynicism is now a partnership with demonstrated value. Many procurement departments have realised the mistakes of the past and have started hiring procurement professionals who are experienced in marketing services or formerly from the agency industry. These new procurement colleagues bring a marketing mindset blended with sourcing rigor.

Some best practices to leverage the benefits of a solidified relationship between procurement and communications include:

• Engage early/engage often
  Engaging procurement early allows it to understand fullyyour needs, to bring its knowledge and expertise to the table, and to best understand how to negotiate the final relationship structure. Early engagement also demonstrates that procurement is a partner at the table
  
  
• Ensure objectivity
  Procurement should drive the sourcing processes, including facilitation of the RFI/RFP processes, establishment of selection criteria and management of  the pitch process, inclusive of the debrief and decision documentation. This allows the communications team and brand team to focus on their roles – marketing strategy and brand/company development
  
  
• Collaborate, collaborate, collaborate
  Collaborate with procurement on the development of business requirements to ensure the brief and selection criteria match and to ensure that the post-pitch session takes into consideration both qualitative and quantitative assessments. Let procurement bring and use the knowledge around proper legal and financial controls that reduce company risk and ensure compliance
  
  
• Right agency/right work
  Leverage procurement’s company-wide perspective of which brands are aligned with which agencies and past history across brands with agencies. The team can provide insights into the other agency assignments within advertising, medical education, media and so on that the client maintains and can leverage spend across brands and business when negotiating contracts
  
  
• Right agency/right value
  Utilise and leverage the procurement team’s benchmarks and work with it to identify inefficiencies in costs and processes. In a world where budgets are consistently being cut, procurement can help identify ways to maximise budgeted dollars or negotiate value-added benefits with agencies. Capitalise on the financial knowledge that is a requirement of procurement. This team understands cost components of remuneration and analyses the reasonableness of compensation requirements to ensure it is fair and competitive.

When procurement is more ingrained within the agency selection process, the establishment of the client-agency relationship is more strategically approached. It is one that is based on insight and knowledge, not a ‘one-off’ negotiation and transaction.

Maximise the pitch process
Once you decide to do a competitive bid for business, it’s important to ensure a fair process. We partner with our procurement team and together have a number of suggestions.

Pfizer is evolving its pitch process. While we do occasionally need to revert to the old, spec strategy/spec creative approach, we’re focusing the pitches to be more business-solutions-oriented, utilising a workshop-style approach and including a real business issue, as appropriate. 

The agency partner should always make your team stronger, so during the pitch, did it tell you something you didn’t know? Did it challenge your thinking? If not, then it is not the right agency for the work.

More time spent upfront on business-needs identification leads to tougher decisions in some cases, but we’re seeing better results. We can usually identify two leading participants from a pool of four or five. If we can’t select between these two, then we typically develop an additional assignment and invite the agencies to Round Two. While adding another round is not the preferred method, we believe that there are times when this option becomes necessary to bring an agency onboard with the full support of the communications, marketing, sales and procurement teams.

Common mistakes agencies make during the RFI/RFP/pitch process

• Fail to follow RFI/RFP instruction, answer all requirements, and/or miss timelines
• Fail to assign the pitch team to the client/brand (Pitch & Switch)
• Fail to demonstrate a clear and strategic thought process that led to the proposal
• Bring too many people to the pitch without a role during the pitch
• Present program components that exceed budget parameters and, if not affordable, compromise the overall integrity of the program
• Propose programs too similar to past client programs or similar to competition.

Make a decision, plan the work and work the plan
The relationship with the selected agency partner is truly just beginning at the point of selection. One of the biggest strains on this new relationship is a process that drags on and on. Staying focused throughout the process and getting to the right decision with minimal delay is key. Once the agency is selected, get it on board as quickly as possible. At a time when internal resources may be tight, more time spent upfront planning the work will pay off. What needs to be done? What information does the agency need on your project or brand or company? How will you work together?

Once you’ve got quickly through the ‘plan the work’ phase – get to work!

In closing...
Developing and maintaining strong agency relationships will help ensure corporate communications departments deliver on aggressive PR goals. Collaborate strongly with procurement; if it is not supporting you as a full strategic partner, then demand it. Getting the right agency partner is a great first step. But to be really successful, don’t forget a solid familiarisation program and ongoing evaluations to help get the most out of the two-way relationship. 

The Author
Kathryn Metcalfe, VP Communications at Pfizer, can be reached at (973) 660 6420 or at kathryn.metcalfe@pfizer.com
Jim Akers, Senior Director, Global Commercialization & Communications, Worldwide Procurement, at Pfizer, can be reached at (212) 733 2323 or at jim.akers@pfizer.com