WHY WE NEED TO RESTORE THE MOMENTUM OF TRUST IN THE PROCUREMENT ERA Much change has taken place in the marketing services industry since the year 2000. The advent of the “Procurement Era” along with two severe economic shocks -- the dot-com bust and, more recently, the “Great Recession” -- have taken a toll on the most important component of marketing services relationships: The element of trust. Three major areas are responsible for this erosion of trust between marketing clients and their agency partners: Transparency, Equity and the Interpretation of Value. Without agreement on standards and guidelines in these vital areas, individual marketers have been left to their own devices, while individual agencies have been somewhat defenseless against a hodge-podge of interpretations and practices that threaten the very fabric of commerce.