evm_mrd_december-2023 - ii

they don't take care of their own brand, what can
we expect for them to do for us? "
10 Be transparent with the
creative ask
Be precise as you can about the creative you're
looking for from an agency, whether it's improving
upon a previous event or creating something
entirely new. Provide examples of work you like
or past examples of your own events. " I provide
them with a good amount of information so
they can understand where we're coming from,
the background of the company, the kind of
programs that we want to add and exactly what
I want to see from them in the process, " says
Courtney Correll Chaves, former head of events
at software company Stripe (now, head of brand
marketing at Watershed).
11 Evaluate the Q&A process
With most RFPs, agencies are given the
opportunity to ask questions within a given time
period. This is a chance for brands to evaluate an
agency's specific inquiries and level of detail and
curiosity. " I like to evaluate how they come back
to us with questions and what they're focused on, "
says Myers.
12 Require a measurement plan
While companies like Salesforce tend
to set internal benchmarks for measuring ROI,
it's still advisable to ask agencies to provide a
measurement strategy and for brands to be open
to collaborating on new ways to capture data. " I'd
like to understand from a strategy position what
an agency can bring me, " says Flores. " There is the
expectation that agencies come in with at least a
theory or an approach on data and measurement, "
adds DeShazo.
13 Go outside the industry
It's important to include agencies on your
short list that have experience activating in your
industry vertical. But throwing in an agency from
another industry will add diversity of thought to
the mix and just might offer up fresh ideas. " It's
always more interesting if you have a more diverse
pool that you're talking to, " says Chaves.
14 Consider multiple agencies
For some programs, it's possible to
onboard more than one agency, including one
umbrella agency to manage the lot. With more
and more agencies willing to collaborate with one
another, it behooves brands to determine how
well they'll really play in the sandbox. " Can [one
agency] run everything if you have a very large,
complicated global program? Maybe not, but
they might be able to take a facet and partner with
a different agency and then you really get the best
of both worlds, " says Flores.
15 Seek realistic references
Take an agency's references seriously, but
press them for realistic evaluations. " They're not
going to give us clients that were unhappy with
their work, " says DeShazo, speaking of her Uber
activations, " but we called them out if they only
gave us totally shining examples. " Chaves suggests
engaging your own network for feedback on the
agency's creative and work style as well.
16 Evaluate workflow
Ask agencies to provide examples of
internal processes, from a flow chart to a run of
show to a sample timeline. Determine how they
run meetings, and how they deal with action items
and follow-ups. Ask yourself, says Chaves, " Does
it create greater efficiencies for us to be working
with this team or did we have to handhold so
much that it actually created a lot of inefficiency
and extra work? "
17 Think partnership
It's about collaboration in the end and,
ultimately, agencies should be an extension of
your own team. Finding partners that you can
rely on limits the number of times that you have
to go to market. " We're looking for someone to
come in and push the envelope with those fresh
ideas. We're not necessarily the experts here-
we're partnering with who we hope will be, " says
Chaves.
For the agency community, RFPs can be, well,
painful. We asked a few industry veterans to name
the one thing they'd change, if they could. (Hint:
these things are probably on your wish list, too.)
Here's a look.
FIVE THINGS AGENCIES WISH THEY
COULD CHANGE ABOUT THE RFP PROCESS
1. Offer access to decision-makers
Given the amount of investment required of agencies to participate
in an RFP, agencies say it's helpful to gain access during the process
to decision-makers and those team members who will actually
be working on the project. " Having the right chemistry between
a brand and their agency partners is critical to make those things
go smoothly. That's the secret sauce, " says Alex Afsari, former vpgrowth
and development at George P. Johnson (now, evp-strategic
growth at Sparks).
2. Disclose your budget parameters
Not sharing budget information can limit an agency's ability
to bring a solution that's a good fit for the brand. " We focus
significantly on the strategy, which then drives the creative, and
having a void of information really hamstrings us and it makes
it difficult for us to do our best work and to deliver for brands, "
says Afsari.
3. Share your event challenges
If there are specific challenges brands are attempting to solve, sharing
them allows an agency to better deliver against them and to also
establish a baseline for measurement. If it's your brand's first foray into
the experiential space, provide examples of work it hopes to emulate.
4. Set realistic expectations
Be thoughtful when creating benchmarks, particularly when it's a
brand's first experiential event, because it takes time and experience
to develop the most successful and well-attended experiential
events in the industry.
5. Offer private Q&As with the brand
While sharing all questions and answers with every bidder is
equitable, it limits the detail agencies are able to provide, for fear
of disclosing a direction or strategy it's considering to competitors.
" We're trying to fill in the gaps of the RFP, which makes the questions
we ask much more critical, " says Dan Hilbert, former svp at GES
Events (now, chief growth officer at Moss).
MARKETING RESOURCE DIRECTORY 2024 CHIEF MARKETER/EVENT MARKETER
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evm_mrd_december-2023

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