Creative Brainstorming

My inbox features a daily e-newsletter, SmartBrief from AAAA.  It always contains subject matter that is relevant to the marketing and advertising communications industry. Today's article, Zappos Review Ignites Agency Ire, touched on the often sticky subject of RFPs.

Apparently, Zappos, posted its request for proposal on Adweek.com and 104 agencies responded to the opportunity to participate in the agency review process with the hopes of landing (or at least making the first cut) a $7 million account. For some, that meant two weeks of intensive effort on creating spec work. Keep in mind Zappo's original list contained 16 agencies; companies they pre-defined as qualified.  The posting process added another 6 to the list. In all, 22 agencies will have the opportunity to pitch for the business.  Can you imagine how exhausted the client will be after that exercise? I can see heads spinning now.  I only hope they have a detailed set of selection criteria pre-established before embarking on the daunting task of sitting through a 22-participant agency review process.

From Element Three's perspective, we are not a big fan of RFP process.  We are a strategic marketing firm that specializes in brand development, marketing strategy and creative execution. To fully understand a current or future client's needs, we believe in the importance of developing a relationship and fully understanding a client's business objectives BEFORE we get involved in pitching ideas.  To do our best work, the creative design and execution needs to be grounded in solid strategy. As strategy consultants, we owe it to our clients to have that understanding before we begin to do the work. Equally as important, we get paid for our thinking and to give it away freely through the RFP process is less than desirable.

That is not to say we do not do it. As a rule, we shy away from RFPs. If we do decide to participate, it is because the proposal is clearly written to a specific strength such as brand development or developing brand identity. We always follow up with a phone call and ask key questions before making the decision to go through the response process. Our goal is to gather as much information as possible using the proposal to guide our questions. We also like to know if an incumbent agency is participating in the process. Armed with this key information, we then decide if we will respond.

Sometimes the RFP process works, but I wouldn't build my relationship development strategy on the odds of winning, which are usually less than favorable.