It seems like only yesterday we began preparing for the 2022 ANA Advertising Financial Management conference; and sadly it’s already here and gone. And what a wonderful conference it was!

Sponsoring the ANA AFM conference for over a decade has allowed us to witness and be a part of the fast growth and maturation of marketing procurement, globally. From humble beginnings in 2009 where we attended with around 150 others, to over 750 in recent years has shown just how powerful, connected, and supportive this community of professionals really is. Juxtaposed to the growth of AFM, here at Decideware we have been blessed with similar growth over the same period – evidence that we are better together as the agency relationship management space continues to grow.

With over 20 insightful presentations from thought leaders around the world of marketing & marketing procurement, not only was the 2022 ANA AFM conference a great networking opportunity, but also a can’t-miss educational opportunity as well. Careful curation of the schedule and presenters came to a point with talks led by Decideware clients Kellogg, PepsiCo, Nestlé, Clorox, and our very own Ed McFadden, Chief Client Officer at Decideware. With topics ranging from agency relationship management to hot legal topics in advertising, everyone in attendance walked away just a little bit more knowledgeable of the landscape we all operate within.

If one thing was clear from ANA AFM 2022, its this: The landscape we operate in isn’t as concrete as we may have thought. We have the power to reshape our surroundings through high quality work, high quality relationships, and a high level of respect for our fellow people. Marketing B2B and B2C is old news – the future is B4H; Brands for Humans. To deliver on such an initiative, our house must be in order with purposeful agency rosters, mindful compensation frameworks, and robust data analytics to fuel the successes of tomorrow.

To learn more about how Decideware can help bring clarity to your agency relationships, visit www.decideware.com, or reach out to info@decideware.com today.

To learn more about the ANA organization and their Member Growth Agenda, visit ANA.net.

This month Decideware is excited to share our continued support of Michigan State Advertising and Public Relations (MSU AD+PR) students this scholarship year. Here at Decideware we recognize the value of enabling as many bright minds as possible to pursue higher education; we hope that these scholarships are a modest but impactful step in that direction.

Decideware wants to recognize and congratulate MSU AD+PR students Taliah Martinez and Alayna Seaberg. Both of these amazing scholars over the past year have shown a deep desire to learn, excel within the curriculum, and support their fellow students along the way. It is an honor to aid them as they continue along the paths of their young career. They were gracious in providing their perspective on the Decideware Scholarship on their studies:

“Words cannot express how thankful I am to have been chosen as one of the two Decideware Advertising Scholarship recipients. My education and pre-professional career have been of utmost importance to me throughout college, and to be rewarded in this way is very surreal. Thank you very much to the donors, as well as those who chose me as a candidate to receive this great honour. The scholarship will go a very long way for me financially, which I am beyond grateful for. Thank you so much!” – Taliah Martinez

 “I am so grateful to be a recipient of the Decideware Advertising Scholarship for the Fall 2022 semester. Without the support of family, peers, educators, and companies like Decideware, I would not have been granted the many opportunities I have been able to experience throughout my undergrad at Michigan State. Thank you to everyone who has seen and supported my potential, and I express my deepest gratitude to the donors and those who selected me for this award. Knowing that I have unwavering support at Michigan State keeps me motivated to continue my hard work into my future career and beyond.” – Alayna Seaberg

VJ Ratnam, Decideware CEO commented on how this program was part Decideware’s commitment to supporting excellence in the marketing and advertising community

“Decideware has a deep commitment to the advertising community and this program provides us with an opportunity to provide at least some assistance to deserving people about to begin their career journeys.

When we listen to the stories of the scholarship recipients, it is both an exciting and humbling experience. We’re excited for them, and all the students in their cohort, and we wish them the very best in their future endeavours.

This sponsorship was formed in conversations with our good friend Greg Taucher, Professor of Practice @ MSU AD+PR and we want to recognise his commitment to educating MSU students.”

– VJ Ratnam, Decideware CEO.

Greg Taucher, Professor of Practice @ MSU AD+PR is a principal agent to recognize in the creation of the Decideware Scholarship Program. His dedication and commitment to his students is something we recognize and honour through this program. As a long-time friend of Decideware, we want to commend Greg on his contributions to the MSU AD+PR community.

“The Decideware Scholarships are not only recognition and investments in a student’s pursuit of academic excellence, but the scholarships are also investments in the future of the advertising industry. These scholarships are awarded to students who have demonstrated their acumen up and down the advertising management curriculum, with particular focus on courses and seminars where Scope of Work planning and management, along with client/agency P&L forecasting, and client relationships are emphasized.” – Greg Taucher, Professor of Practice, MSU

Most managers in Strategic Relationship Management (e.g. Marketing Agencies or Strategic Suppliers) can list a fair number of reasons why relationship evaluations should be conducted on a regular basis.   A typical list is shown below.   The problem with these sorts of lists is that the benefits are all a little theoretical and lack direct practical relevance.   Forget the theory, how do relationship evaluations really help?   What practical help can I get from them?

Decideware Excited to Announce Continued Partnership with ANA in 2022

Decideware is happy to share that we are continuing our partnership with the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) in 2022. Specifically, we are looking forward to sponsoring the ANA Advertising Financial Management Conference May 1^st – May 4^th in Orlando, FL where advertisers & advertising agencies from around the globe gather to share ideas, learn from one another, and network across industries.

Robin Seasock, Decideware's Chief Operating Officer, discusses marketing predictions that will shape the future of marketing for 2022 in an interview with WFA and other strategic partners.

Decideware are proud sponsors of Women of Influence in partnership with Producers and Procurers IQ.

I am pleased to announce that Decideware is once again proud to sponsor ProcureCon Marketing, to be held in La Jolla, CA. 5-8 December 2021.

After a relatively quiet 18 months, this week is shaping up to be an active one for practitioners in the Marketing Procurement and Marketing Operations space. 

There are two big industry conferences happening this week, the ANA Advertising Financial Management Conference and ProcureCon Marketing Connect Europe. 

Learn how to apply Business Intelligence to Marketing Procurement and Agency management in our new E-book. If you are an executive who works at a large advertiser, who has responsibility for managing relationships with marketing & communication agencies, and are looking for new ways to optimize those relationships, then this eBook is for you.

Has your CPO or CMO asked you how much money the company is spending with creative agencies... globally?

In this webinar, hear from members of Ford's Global Agency Management Team as they share their experience in automating their scope of work and performance evaluation processes globally across all divisions and under tight timelines.

Pfizer and Decideware collaborated recently on an Association of National Advertisers (ANA) article where Pfizer shared their vision for managing its global agency roster. 

Decideware & Pfizer @ ProcureCon Marketing Virtual Summit, 19 Nov 2020.

Decideware is pleased to sponsor the 2020 ProcureCon Marketing Virtual Summit.  The peer-led conference features use-cases from over 20 thought leaders in marketing procurement. 

Decideware is proud to be an inaugural Premier Sponsor of Forge: Marketing - Global Marketing Procurement’s newest marquee annual event;

Thursday, October 29th 10-5pm EDT (Live Virtual Conference)

The full day agenda features a range of important topics and expert practitioners representing brands, including AbInBev, AstraZeneca, Nestle, Novo Nordisk, Teva, Truist, Visa and many others in addition to seasoned industry advisors Laura Forcetti at the WFA and Tina Fegent.

“Improved Advertising Production Management is within Advertisers’ Control” (The ANA)

The Pandemic is Forcing Better Production Governance

Advertisers were faced with having to quickly pivot their approach to production because of the COVID-19 Pandemic. They were canceling and postponing shoots, adapting production of content, accessing and re-purposing existing assets, and figuring out how to deliver the appropriate messaging to their audiences in an innovative way.

CMOs and Finance teams are now focused on the financial impact of the pandemic to both revenue and expenses.

Marketing Operations and Procurement teams are working quickly to update scopes of work, contracts, and change orders with their agencies. Some industry sectors are pumping the breaks on production (i.e. leisure and hospitality) while others are working fast and furious to address markets that are tentatively re-opening. Regardless of the sector and market, all advertisers are closely monitoring and managing their spending.

So far, how well have advertisers been able to manage their production spend when the crunch hit? Were they able to have a single top-line view of production activity across all of their brand teams, agencies and geographies? Did they have a good handle on their production commitments and spend? Did they know the financial implications associated with canceling productions? Could they assess the impact of budget changes with their agencies? And when production begins to ramp back up again (and everyone is competing for the same resources at the same time), how well positioned will advertisers be to look across their production jobs to optimize the resources available to deliver against new timelines?

Using 360-degree feedback as part of your agency evaluation program.

A topic that remains hot in the Agency Relationship Management area is what is commonly called 360-degree Evaluation, which is where an agency provides feedback to their client as part of a formal, structured performance management program.

Aligning marketing, agencies and procurement through better Scope of Work management

1. Why is the Scope of Work process so important?

As with other professional services categories the Scope of Work process is becoming ever more important in managing marketing spend. A well-controlled Scope of Work program is an integral part of a robust framework for planning and communication between client and agency.

Agencies are valued partners in advertisers’ evaluation programs. They act as respondents in the relationship surveys our clients conduct, often they’re invited to play a role in shaping the program, and certainly they will engage to act on the findings.

One of the many benefits of our long engagement with the ANA’s Advertising Financial Management conference is the opportunity to meet an array of people who work in the business – representing marketing, procurement, finance and agencies.       

With rapid growth over the past 18 months, we've acquired many new clients coming to Decideware with greater ambitions for scale, productivity and ROI than we might have seen in the past. And established clients are lifting to greater heights faster than ever.

Late last year the WFA and Decideware partnered to deliver a seminar to WFA Sourcing Forum members in Singapore.

Are you simply using the "volume control" for your scopes of work? Or are you making sure you have the right mix?

You are about to embark on your agency partnership road trip. What's the most important thing you need to take with you?

Take advantage of the summer

The middle of the year provides a timely opportunity to touch base with your agencies.

These Northern Hemisphere summer months offer advantages in that the speed of business is relatively a little slower.

Marketers and agency teams might have a little more time to step back, think about their client-agency relationships and complete an evaluation survey.

There is no such thing as a perfect agency. While many companies place a considerable amount time selecting which agencies they choose to partner with, sometimes even the "perfect agency" seems to lose its shine after the actual workload begins.

Decideware, in partnership with the World Federation of Advertiser, will present "Agency Evaluation: Results from a 2017 Joint Survey" on September 21st at 10:00 am EST. 

Included in the June ANA issue of FORWARD is a thought-leadership article by Richard Benyon, CEO of Decideware, titled "Why the Right Scope of Work is So Important: An Effective Scope of Work Ensures the Right Work Gets Done in the Right Way".

Below are the July articles of interest from key trade publications, with excerpts highlighting key take-aways. This month's selection includes articles on the failing share prices of WPP, the state of advertising labor rates, as well as where we stand today- one year after the ANA's report on media transparency.  We hope that you find this month's selections informative and valuable.

Most decisions made in the agency management arena are time-critical and must be accurate. This places an emphasis on having processes and systems in place that collect information efficiently, often across multiple geographies, business units and with different agency types.

Below are the May articles of interest from key trade publications. This month's selection includes articles on agencies, hybrid CMO roles, as well as the changes in agency pay.  We hope that you find this month's selections informative and valuable.

The speaker line up was great, the content was powerful, the networking was effective and the Samsung Virtual Reality Booth was . . . well, . . . it was just cool! 

On Tuesday, April 25th, the World Federation of Advertisers heads to Toronto for Global Marketer Week - days of inspiration, discovery and learning. Steven Wales, CRO of Decideware, will attend the meeting representing WFA's Strategic Partner for Efficiency.

Richard Benyon, CEO of Decideware, will present  "Advancing the Agency Evaluation Process" in an upcoming ANA Procurement Series webinar, along with client-side input from Jim Zambito, Executive Director, Agency Relations and Finance Controller of Johnson & Johnson.

Decideware has enjoyed a long and productive relationship with the ANA.

On February 22nd and 23rd, the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) held the annual combined meeting of their Production Management and West Coast Advertising Financial Management committees.

Below is the February articles of interest from key trade publications. This month's selection includes articles on the challenges that marketers have faced over the past year, how to get the most from your agencies in the upcoming year, as well as the increasing trend in client project-based assignments.  We hope that you find this month's selection informative and valuable.

The West Coast chapter of the ANA's joint Production and Advertising Financial Management Committees will be taking place on February 22-23rd at Warner Bros, Los Angeles.

Each month, Decideware will highlight articles of interest from key trade publications such as AdAge, ANA's Smartbrief, Campaign Live to give Marketing and Procurement professional the latest news and relevant industry information. If you are involved in managing client-agency relationships, we hope that you find this information valuable and informative: