The COLLAB agency evaluation system has been in existence for a year now. PitchPoint has conducted 641 interviews with 25 agencies and 49 brands. A total of 64 relationships were thoroughly investigated. The feedback from all parties is very positive and everyone agrees that the methodology contributes to a good and neutral screening of the relationship. The fact that the evaluation is mutual is also highly appreciated.
Thanks to the consistent way of measuring, we can distil from the mass of data the first benchmarks and insights for the Belgian market.
Overall, the relationships between agencies and clients are very good. Brands give an average score of 7.4 to their agency, consisting of
7.6 for 'attitude'
7.5 for 'process'
7.1 for 'expertise'.
Agencies give similar scores to their clients; an average of 7.4, comprising
7.6 for 'attitude'
7.5 for 'process'
7.2 for 'expertise'.
The main areas of concern given by brands to their agency as feedback are:
Insight' (6,6): providing innovative and original insights (6,9) and using data and quantitative sources to do so (6,3).
Planning' (6,9): mainly asking for regular optimisation of timing and budgets (6,6).
ROI' (7.0): assessing the 'value for money' (6.9) remains an important point for advertisers and it is not always easy for them to evaluate.
The main points of concern given by agencies to their clients as feedback are:
ROI' (6.9): the performance objectives (KPIs) that determine how the agency's contribution is evaluated are not always clear.
Collaboration' (7.0): where especially the validation process on the client side can be improved (6.9). Internal agreement on the client side is often lacking before engaging agency resources
For more information on COLLAB please contact Chris Van Roey at PItchPoint (chris@pitchpoint.be).