Medialinked: Procurement Officers: Don't Drink That Purple Stuff - Michael Kassan - MediaBizBloggers

I read about a fun and fascinating study by a Syracuse University professor that found falling in love only takes a fifth of a second And I couldn39t help thinking about procurementYes I know I39m a romanticBut really the professor ought to give extra thanks this year that her private school doesn39t have a privatesector purchasing department If it did Syracuse would already have launched a review for a professor who could do a study that found falling in love takes a fourth of a secondYes this is a column about purchasingrun reviews No I39m not going to slam them Not much anywayIn the spirit of the season allow me to offer some suggestions to procurement officers about how to do it right rather than simply add my voice to the cacophony of bitching about the media services bogeyman Consider it my holiday gift to all the men and women around the world whose mission it is to make media agencies miserableThere is a real role for procurement in the marketing communications conversation But that role isn39t to lead it39s to informReviews shouldn39t be beauty contests They should be intelligent explorations of the state of the business a fair and dignified process to identify challenges and opportunities both creative and monetary in the ecosystem of today and tomorrow and a system whereby the best partneramp8212not the lowest bidderamp8212is chosenHow many of those have you seenMe neitherSo the first thing I39d do is to suggest that clients rethink these pro forma procurementled reviews that absolutely positively have to be held every three years or 18 months or whenever some musty old marketing playbook says they should be held It39s always good that procurement insists the company has the best view of the marketplace but quotOkay it39s been three years let39s just do itquot is not going to help a client39s inhouse marketing groups get that perspectiveProcurement officers should launch reviews when the ecosystem changes the company39s goals evolve or they39re unhappy with the workamp8212not the compensationamp8212of their agencies Not beforeThe second thing I39d do is after the decision to review is made change job one from quotcut costsquot to quotexplore options to support marketing decisions most effectivelyquot If that39s the key deliverable it seems logical to postulate that cost savings would flow naturally from the outcomeThe third suggestion I have for purchasing is don39t flirt If you want a serious relationship stop stepping out on your media shop I know this is a foreign concept to many so let me be clear do not review your agency if you39re happy with them Period It39s amazing what a healthy relationship can produce Even cost savings if that39s what you needLook I39ve been in competition my entire professional life It39s part of our industry39s playing field and it should be There39s no such thing as a sinecure in our business And of course I39m not arguing that saving money isn39t a good thing especially in a global recession But being inventive nimble and forwardthinking matter a lot moreThis incessant reviewing for reviewing39s sake is a waste of internal and external assets And as euphoric as it may be to squeeze an additional dollar or so out of your shops it quickly can become an addiction which costs a lot more in the long runIt39s instructive to note after all that while it takes only a fifth of a second to fall in love the pain of a busted love affair can last foreverMichael E Kassan is Chairman and CEO of MediaLink LLC a leading Los Angeles and New York Citybased advisory and business development firm that provides critical counsel and direction on issues of marketing advertising media entertainment and digital technology Michael can be reached at michaelmedialinkllccomRead all Michael39s MediaBizBloggers commentaries at Media LinkedCheck us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggerscomFollow our Twitter updates MediaBizBlogger

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Medialinked: Procurement Officers: Don't Drink That Purple Stuff - Michael Kassan - MediaBizBloggers

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