{"id":2227,"date":"2017-12-15T10:46:26","date_gmt":"2017-12-15T09:46:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/our-insights\/measuring-your-relationships\/"},"modified":"2017-12-15T10:46:26","modified_gmt":"2017-12-15T09:46:26","slug":"measuring-your-relationships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-za\/our-insights\/measuring-your-relationships\/","title":{"rendered":"Measuring your relationships"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Marketers that don\u2019t measure agency performance are unlikely to benefit from the value that long-term partnerships bring.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>All marketers are under constant pressure to demonstrate real business return. And yet too many fail to track the performance of their agency partners in contributing to this goal.<\/p>\n<p>This seems ironic because not only is it easier to correct any issues as and when they come up but doing so enables brands to benefit from the improved performance that\u2019s delivered when relationships last for the long term.<\/p>\n<p>So, let\u2019s take a step back and ask ourselves why these relationships are so important. It\u2019s a two-step journey:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>First: there\u2019s a strong link between great creativity and brilliant business results. As far back as 2010, research from the UK\u2019s Institute of Practioners in Advertising and Thinkbox, in conjunction with the Gunn Report, revealed a direct correlation between strong advertising creativity and business success. The study showed that the most creatively awarded advertising campaigns were 11 times more efficient at delivering business success.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>More recently, at last year\u2019s Cannes Lions, McKinsey revealed that \u201centerprises which flourish in the creative realm, as a rule, witness equally impressive outcomes on the fiscal measures favoured by the C-suite and Wall Street: namely organic revenue growth, total return to shareholders and net enterprise value. On each of these indices, firms receiving a high \u2018Awards Creativity Score\u2019 doubled the ratings posted by their low-ranking competitors\u201d.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Second: you only get this kind of business-enhancing creativity when marketers and agencies have spent time together. A study presented at the 2016 Cannes Lions by Razorfish and Contagious analysed 15 years of entries and awards from the festival to reveal the patterns, attributes and secrets behind the world\u2019s top creative performers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Amongst the findings, they stated that: \u201cAgency\/client relationships that last past the 10-year mark have win rates twice the average\u201d. Their recommendations included: \u201cInvest in long-term relationships \u2013 it\u2019s the long-established creative relationships that are proven [by data science] to be the highest-performing over time\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>As Marla Kaplowitz, the new President of the American Association of Advertising Agencies [4As] puts it: \u201cPeople are at their best and most creative when they feel trusted and valued. Trust is the cornerstone of any good relationship. We must foster it through candid collaboration and conversations\u201d.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Better returns on longer relationships<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Despite the evidence of such benefits, however, many find it difficult to nurture these relationships. Too many marketers are frequently time-starved and find it increasingly difficult to allocate time to the \u2018softer\u2019 functions like agency relationship management (even if more agile working practices might improve matters).<\/p>\n<p>The good news is that some may already have tools that can help manage performance and relationships more effectively. The global shift towards agency compensation based on results, for example, demands greater levels of agency performance measurement.<\/p>\n<p>These are now common practice in many companies and agencies and the agency performance assessments that should be a vital element of a broader PBR scorecard can be used to steer relationships away from the rocky shores of re-pitching.<\/p>\n<p>It requires time but only then will marketers get a great \u2018Return on Relationship\u2019 [ROR]. Marketers [and their agency partners] need to invest in initiatives designed to improve the quality, efficiency and effectiveness of their relationships.<\/p>\n<p>Agency Performance Measurement is the \u2018tool\u2019 that generates the right \u2018conversations\u2019 and identifies the need for course corrections on both sides of the agency advertiser-divide.<\/p>\n<p>These might include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Re-alignment on goals or objectives;<\/li>\n<li>Revisiting \u2018rules of engagement\u2019;<\/li>\n<li>Fine-tuning team make-up;<\/li>\n<li>Improving skills sets; and<\/li>\n<li>Refining process.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>From a practical standpoint, it requires an approach that is time-efficient and cost effective but is capable of generating the \u2018right\u2019 feedback and sparking meaningful conversations.<\/p>\n<p>Agency performance measurement might, for example, highlight the need for marketers to improve their capabilities too, in areas such as briefing skills, creative evaluation and feedback capabilities and also alignment and co-ordination of stakeholders.<\/p>\n<p>Appropriate frequency is also important. We recommend quarterly \u2018light touch\u2019 interventions, followed by an annual \u2018deep dive\u2019 survey. The latter can also serve to generate the KPI scores for PBR or bonus payment purposes.<\/p>\n<p>If we can all agree that long-term agency partnerships deliver better value, then the investment required for a programme of two-way performance measurement seems a small price to pay.<\/p>\n<p>Most companies now apply similar processes to their relationships with employees with appraisals and 360-degree performance reviews now a fact of everyday employment practice. It seems foolish not to apply the same rigour to relationships with outside partners.<\/p>\n<p>Smart performance measurement not only helps agencies deliver their best work but also delivers for the clients\u2019 bottom line. It is, as the saying goes, a true win-win.<\/p>\n<p>John Little<\/p>\n<p>Regional Managing Partner, Middle East &#038; Africa<\/p>\n<p>The Observatory International<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Marketers that don\u2019t measure agency performance are unlikely to benefit from the value that long-term partnerships bring &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[165],"tags":[171],"class_list":["post-2227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog-en-za","tag-performance-measurement-en-za"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Measuring your relationships - The Observatory International<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-za\/our-insights\/measuring-your-relationships\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Measuring your relationships - The Observatory International\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Marketers that don\u2019t measure agency performance are unlikely to benefit from the value that long-term partnerships bring ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-za\/our-insights\/measuring-your-relationships\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Observatory International\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-12-15T09:46:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/app\/uploads\/2022\/07\/observatory.png.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"576\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"WebmasterFarnedi\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@observatoryint\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@observatoryint\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.observatoryinternational.com\\\/en-za\\\/our-insights\\\/measuring-your-relationships\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.observatoryinternational.com\\\/en-za\\\/our-insights\\\/measuring-your-relationships\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"WebmasterFarnedi\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.observatoryinternational.com\\\/en-za\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/dfb4c14c549654ef1d6ed6b4bd49f06f\"},\"headline\":\"Measuring your relationships\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-12-15T09:46:26+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.observatoryinternational.com\\\/en-za\\\/our-insights\\\/measuring-your-relationships\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":796,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.observatoryinternational.com\\\/en-za\\\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Performance Measurement\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Blog\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-ZA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.observatoryinternational.com\\\/en-za\\\/our-insights\\\/measuring-your-relationships\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.observatoryinternational.com\\\/en-za\\\/our-insights\\\/measuring-your-relationships\\\/\",\"name\":\"Measuring your relationships - The Observatory International\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.observatoryinternational.com\\\/en-za\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-12-15T09:46:26+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.observatoryinternational.com\\\/en-za\\\/our-insights\\\/measuring-your-relationships\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-ZA\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.observatoryinternational.com\\\/en-za\\\/our-insights\\\/measuring-your-relationships\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.observatoryinternational.com\\\/en-za\\\/our-insights\\\/measuring-your-relationships\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.observatoryinternational.com\\\/en-za\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Measuring your relationships\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.observatoryinternational.com\\\/en-za\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.observatoryinternational.com\\\/en-za\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Observatory International\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.observatoryinternational.com\\\/en-za\\\/#organization\"},\"alternateName\":\"Drive brand growth\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.observatoryinternational.com\\\/en-za\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-ZA\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.observatoryinternational.com\\\/en-za\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Observatory International\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.observatoryinternational.com\\\/en-za\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-ZA\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.observatoryinternational.com\\\/en-za\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.observatoryinternational.com\\\/app\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/07\\\/observatory.png.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.observatoryinternational.com\\\/app\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/07\\\/observatory.png.webp\",\"width\":576,\"height\":300,\"caption\":\"The Observatory International\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.observatoryinternational.com\\\/en-za\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/observatoryint\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.observatoryinternational.com\\\/en-za\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/dfb4c14c549654ef1d6ed6b4bd49f06f\",\"name\":\"WebmasterFarnedi\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-ZA\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/5e57bfc7394126f3eacbaed73abe6cff991fc9bc9906c932582325769439024b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/5e57bfc7394126f3eacbaed73abe6cff991fc9bc9906c932582325769439024b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/5e57bfc7394126f3eacbaed73abe6cff991fc9bc9906c932582325769439024b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"WebmasterFarnedi\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.observatoryinternational.com\\\/wp\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Measuring your relationships - The Observatory International","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-za\/our-insights\/measuring-your-relationships\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Measuring your relationships - The Observatory International","og_description":"Marketers that don\u2019t measure agency performance are unlikely to benefit from the value that long-term partnerships bring ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-za\/our-insights\/measuring-your-relationships\/","og_site_name":"The Observatory International","article_published_time":"2017-12-15T09:46:26+00:00","og_image":[{"width":576,"height":300,"url":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/app\/uploads\/2022\/07\/observatory.png.webp","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"WebmasterFarnedi","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@observatoryint","twitter_site":"@observatoryint","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-za\/our-insights\/measuring-your-relationships\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-za\/our-insights\/measuring-your-relationships\/"},"author":{"name":"WebmasterFarnedi","@id":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-za\/#\/schema\/person\/dfb4c14c549654ef1d6ed6b4bd49f06f"},"headline":"Measuring your relationships","datePublished":"2017-12-15T09:46:26+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-za\/our-insights\/measuring-your-relationships\/"},"wordCount":796,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-za\/#organization"},"keywords":["Performance Measurement"],"articleSection":["Blog"],"inLanguage":"en-ZA"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-za\/our-insights\/measuring-your-relationships\/","url":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-za\/our-insights\/measuring-your-relationships\/","name":"Measuring your relationships - The Observatory International","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-za\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-12-15T09:46:26+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-za\/our-insights\/measuring-your-relationships\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-ZA","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-za\/our-insights\/measuring-your-relationships\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-za\/our-insights\/measuring-your-relationships\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-za\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Measuring your relationships"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-za\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-za\/","name":"The Observatory International","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-za\/#organization"},"alternateName":"Drive brand growth","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-za\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-ZA"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-za\/#organization","name":"The Observatory International","url":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-za\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-ZA","@id":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-za\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/app\/uploads\/2022\/07\/observatory.png.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/app\/uploads\/2022\/07\/observatory.png.webp","width":576,"height":300,"caption":"The Observatory International"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-za\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/observatoryint"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-za\/#\/schema\/person\/dfb4c14c549654ef1d6ed6b4bd49f06f","name":"WebmasterFarnedi","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-ZA","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5e57bfc7394126f3eacbaed73abe6cff991fc9bc9906c932582325769439024b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5e57bfc7394126f3eacbaed73abe6cff991fc9bc9906c932582325769439024b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5e57bfc7394126f3eacbaed73abe6cff991fc9bc9906c932582325769439024b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"WebmasterFarnedi"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/wp"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2227\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.observatoryinternational.com\/en-za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}