They are the first in the country to benefit local companies
AFTER much research and discussions with various stakeholders, the much-awaited Malaysian advertising industry guidelines to help marketers plan and execute efficient and productive advertising agency reviews have come into fruition.
The guidelines are laid out in the book titled Finding an Agency and was launched on Thursday at the Balai Berita Theatrette in Bangsar. It was launched by the Association of Accredited Advertising Agents Malaysia (4As) in collaboration with global consulting firm R3 Worldwide.
World-renowned companies like Unilever, General Electric and Ford have succeeded in their campaigns and marketing initiatives, among others, through lasting relationships spanning over 70 years with their agencies.
The evolving marketer agency landscape and increasing business demands however give rise to marketers seeking specialty expertise to either complement or replace existing relationships with ad agencies.
The primary drivers are shifting consumer dynamics and rapid rise of mobile. R3’s recent study revealed that over 30% of marketers worldwide are considering or have already decided to change agency partners.
Association of Accredited Advertising Agents Malaysia (4As) CEO Khairudin Rahim tells StarBizWeek in an interview that the pitching guidelines is the first ever in Malaysia for the benefit of local companies.
The first thing for a marketer under the guidelines is to be very clear that changing the ad agency would be in the best interest of the brand. Before embarking on a search, be really sure that best efforts have been made to restore the existing client-agency relationship to health.
R3 Worldwide principal consultant Seema Punwani says finding the right partner is one of the key pillars to ensure client marketing is more effective and efficient. Before going for a pitch or for a new agency, she adds it is important for marketers to examine what went wrong with the existing agency.
“Many a times, the failure lies on the part of the marketer as this could be due to rampant changes in the brief, unclear feedback from the management etc. This masking of problems may continue even when a marketer appoints a new agency.
“It’s better to have a documented process in selecting an agency. But if an agency does not have the skill set or talent that a marketer is looking for, then it should look for a new agency that can meet this objectives,” Seema explains.
There must be an internal analysis on the part of the marketing team and the relevant stakeholders to decide the type of the agency model they are looking for and formulating the agency scope of work.
Khairudin says he is optimistic that Finding an Agency will be well-received by agencies and marketers. “Many successful agency appointments can also be based on holding workshops or trial projects as opposed to the auto-pilot mode of calling for the traditional full-blown strategy and creative pitch challenge presentation.
“The book includes a post-pitch agency evaluation form that assists marketers to objectively assess each agency. Agencies that diligently refer to these criteria will know what to aim for, in order to hit the bulls-eye,” he notes.
Source: The Star
