Celebrating the success of a ten year agency relationship management programme at Samsung UK

Since 2015 the Observatory International has been supporting Samsung UK with its agency relationship management programme through a biannual performance review of its rostered agencies. The longevity of the programme is testament to the seriousness and professionalism of Samsung UK’s partnership with its agencies.

During the 10+ years of the programme we have witnessed tangible evidence of the growth in capabilities and positive behaviours in how Samsung marketers partner with and work with their agencies. There has been remarkable stability in the roster and clear evidence that when issues have been identified the Samsung team and the relevant agency have worked together to address the situation and bring the relationship back on track. At the same time the brand reputation of Samsung has risen exponentially. (A recent YouGov survey ranked Samsung #3 in the UK for overall brand health – enjoyed lasting consumer appeal over the past 12 months.) We are firm believers that strong client and agency relationships produce great work and the agency performance review programme has played a small but important part in the overall delivery of that high quality communications from its agencies, leading to the brand growth Samsung has experienced.

The characteristics of the Samsung performance review programme are that it is:

Holistic and continuous – covering the full rosterof agencies twice each year
Two-way – providing both Samsung and agency feedback – almost 1,000 responses each year across all levels and areas of marketing and the agencies
100 agency review meetings held each year between Samsung and the agencies to ensure results are understood and acted on
Consistent questions and process to help identify trends and common themes
Benchmarked against Samsung’s own benchmarks and referenced to the Observatory International’s 19+ years of performance measurement surveys
Qualitative and quantitative feedback ensuring depth to the information gathered so that it can be acted on
Industry leading – quick and easy to complete, but with sufficient actionable detail, consistently 80%-100% participant response rates.

Samsung has identified specific process and creative excellence improvement projects arising directly as a result of the performance review programme, including:

A dynamic briefing portal – digitising and creating dynamic briefs to cover all Samsung activities, reducing time to market, automating repetitive and transactional processes
Capabilities and learning – improving the knowledge needed for team members to work seamlessly with Samsung processes, systems and policies, providing monthly training when pain points are identified
Briefing training – essential for any team, upskilling teams to write better quality briefs and provide better feedback, reducing wastage, ensuring agile working and driving creative excellence
A brand guidelines quiz to eradicate examples of incorrect execution of brand guidelines, driving consistency and quality.

We are extremely proud of the 10 year performance review programme and our relationship with Samsung, here’s what they had to say about it:

“We have developed a strong relationship with Observatory International. They possess a thorough understanding of our business, our challenges, and our agencies, and are consistently engaged and proactive in driving towards effective solutions.

Since 2015, the Agency Performance Tracker programme has ensured we have maintained a ‘finger on the pulse’ approach to managing our agency relationships. It has been instrumental in identifying best practices, detecting problems before they arise, and implementing action plans to resolve issues and foster continuous improvement. This programme plays a vital role in our mission to ensure we have the best agencies in place, delivering their finest work alongside us.“

Nathan Titchener
Head of Marketing Operational Excellence
Samsung Electronics