Here we go - first ever blog!

"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!.