Agency New Business-Is Procurement On The Way Out?
PepsiCo has it right and has given its marketing people and the agencies involved with the account an early Christmas present.
Ad Age reported in an article recently they’re eliminating procurement’s involvement in making decisions as it relates to marketing and agencies. Amen! Hallelujah!
I’m all for procurement.
I think it serves a noble purpose…when buying things like chairs and other office supplies. But marketing services? Really?
It’s analogous to what I see in some agencies trying to build up a new business development program by hiring what I like to call a “used car sales guy” – someone who really knows sales, but doesn’t understand a lick about the world of marketing or advertising. I see it all the time. We often enter relationships with agencies on the lead generation side of our business following attempts to make a go at selling – the wrong way.
Procurement is no different.
I understand the need to save money, but like Mike Paxton, the former head of Haagen-Dazs once told me, “You can’t save your way to prosperity”.
And he was right.
We can only hope that what PepsiCo is doing is the start of a bigger movement.
Marketers will benefit because they will have more control and be able to define the RIGHT set of variables that they need to be looking at to make the RIGHT decision for their business.
And of course agencies will win because they will no longer be commoditized to the point they can no longer earn enough to keep their clients ahead of that proverbial curve.
Mark Sneider
Mark is a 30-year veteran of the consumer packaged goods, advertising, and marketing service industry. Mark started his career at DDB Needham in Chicago prior to earning his MBA from the J.L. Kellogg Business School at Northwestern where he majored in Marketing and Economics. Prior to starting RSW/US in 2005, Mark was General Manager for AcuPOLL, a global research consultancy. Sneider worked in Marketing for S.C. Johnson and KAO Brands. Sneider has been invited to speak at numerous Agency events and network conferences domestically and internationally including the 4A’s, Magnet, NAMA, TAAN, and MCAN. Sneider has been featured in prominent industry publications including Adweek, Media Post, e-Marketer, and Forbes. When not working (which often seems like not often), Mark likes to run miles, go to church, and just chill with a hard copy issue of Fast Company.
