"As I hurtled through space, one thought kept crossing my mind: Every part of this capsule was supplied by the lowest bidder." John Glenn, Astronaut
“The question remains whether the procurement process can successfully purchase creative services in the way door handles or raw materials are bought. The emphasis on procurement seemed to have started in the pharmaceutical industry and then moved elsewhere.” Martin Sorrell – CEO WPP
I thought it was appropriate to start off my first blog with a few quotes about procurement - the latter from Sir Martin on the wonderful world of marketing procurement that I work in.
The question that has been bugging me this week is why is there so much negative press about marketing procurement. There has been the recent article in Ad Age bemoaning the experience or the perceived lack of marketing experience of procurement folk. Do other industries and their trade mags see the involvement of procurement be it in the buying of travel or raw materials as negative ?
As with every role there are good people and there are some that perhaps may need some further training (happy to help of course!)- but it would be good to stop the negative comments and get the role and value that marketing procurement bring to agency relationships as positive and as natural in the marketing procurement sphere as the search and selection and media auditing companies. All suggestions welcome!.
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Tina you are now in my web favourites, good luck on the blog.
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts, marketing procurement have a hard time because many consider it to be all about the media value, and then don't consider the costs of the team as a separate line item. It's only by considering the value of the service, quality of the team, experience, insights and that all elusive chemistry that you get to what true value is, and procurement simply cant put a figure on that.
I’m not surprised there is such negative press and I believe it’s because there aren’t enough professionals in this area who recognise that marketing services isn’t an item that can be commoditised. The value of experience that is brought in producing a creative idea can’t be reduced to a line item but often is. And producing a piece of artwork is down to people’s time and yet is often set in stone as a fixed price when production time will vary. Training is a must in this area and Tina if you can help please do, because it’s incredibly depressing to meet your new marketing procurement contact whose only experience is in buying car components.
ReplyDeleteThe majority of experiences i've had with procurement have been very positive but this doesn't make good copy so it doesn't get written up. I guess it's a bit like referees, you only hear about the bad ones.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the blog Tina, Jorian Murray
I used to buy car components......and now buy marketing. Automotive industry is leading edge in procurement by the way.
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