Agency Review vs. Agency Evaluation

 

On the surface and if you consult the all knowing Webster, the two words in the title of this
article are pretty close to being synonyms.

re·view [ri-vyoo] - verb - to inspect, to survey, to view
e·val·u·ate [ih-val-yoo-eyt] - verb - to judge, to determine the value or significance

However, when large companies are talking about their advertising and media agencies, these
two words can take on totally different meanings with dramatically different outcomes. One of
the largest companies in the world, recently announced that they were putting their media and
advertising agencies up on “review” in Q1 of 2011.

Having worked for a very large global CPG company, I know exactly what that means. It means
that the current agencies are sweating. They could lose a large piece of business. People
could lose their jobs, and life as they know it, may never be the same.

It also means there is a lot of work coming soon for both the company doing the “review” and
the existing agencies as they try and salvage the business. The company needs to manage
a long and tedious "review" process, the RFI, the RFP and potentially the on-boarding and
management of new agencies. The existing agency needs to work hard at maintaining the
current business and work load, while potentially being offended by the fact that their agency is
under "review". They must also staff a team of people to responded to the RFI & RFP, as well
as pitch the business.

It's hard, it's time consuming and it's costly.

Compare this “review” against a robust, on-going and mutual “evaluation” process. What if the
company had a well established evaluation process that included the following:

● The ability to establish a robust agreed upon scope of work (SOW) at the start of the
year.
● This SOW was online, available to key stakeholders at both the company & the agency,
rather than multiple copies of documents and spreadsheets.
● The SOW included check points through out the year that enabled the company &
agency to stay on point and not get distracted by scope creep or special projects.
● The agreed SOW had metrics that were quantifiable and measurable on a monthly,
quarterly and annual basis.
● These metrics were tied to the agencies bonus structure by using a complete annual
360༠ agency evaluation tool.
● Both the Company and the Agency have visibility to the status of the SOW throughout
the year so that adjustments can be made and no surprises happen at year end.
● A healthy, mutual and growing relationship continued to develop between the Company
and the Agency to achieve the marketing and ultimately, profitability goals of both
parties.

Evaluations provide for a growing relationship between the Company and the Agency. This
growing relationship can allow both parties to excel and allow gaps to be discovered early, thus
avoiding costly and time consuming changes. Yes, a Review may be needed. At some point
the company and the agency may no longer see eye to eye and a change must take place.
However, by utilizing an on-going Evaluation process, these changes can become more visible
and much easier to make.

Author: Steve Wales (Decideware)