How to brief and choose your communications agency

In our latest insight series for the site, we are calling on the expertise of longtime Walpole collaborator, communications agency ANM, to tell us the key steps every British luxury brand needs to know in order to execute a perfect press campaign with an agency. In this first instalment, we cover the things you need to think about at the very start of your journey with your potential agency: how to give a solid brief and how to knock your pitch meeting out of the park.

Do you have a story to tell?

Have a clear and realistic idea of what you want to communicate and how compelling the brand is in the sector. If there is no point of difference, you and the agency will struggle to succeed. 

Often brands have an unrealistic view of their offering, muddled messaging or unattainable objectives. Don’t set the agency up for failure by not having distilled the message and USPs in your brief. 

A brief brief

Briefs, by definition, are brief. No more than three pages. Less is more, if it is the right less. 

Objectives, timings, messaging, target audiences, budgets and the criteria for selection – the answers the agency must provide in the response. Pages of brand positioning are superfluous and it is sometimes refreshing to hear what they think about your brand rather than have them repeat back what you have spoon fed them. Thoughtful, confident agencies will tell you how they see it. 

Avoid a beauty parade

Often brands will reach out to a dozen agencies to present. This shows us that the client is not familiar with the market, the competitive landscape and is indecisive. It also causes in-demand agencies to decline to pitch. 

Keep it tight, focused and invite a maximum of four agencies to present. You can always invite your preferred two back to represent. 

Be realistic and budget

Be realistic in what you want to see in a response. Too often clients want champagne plans, but have beer budgets. Don’t ask for “blue sky thinking” if you don’t have the budget. People can be, and have to be, more creative when they have smaller budgets. Blue sky thinking is a cliché and a distraction. Concentrate on what can be cleverly delivered for the money you have. 

A common disconnect between the agency and client is what they think they are selling and buying. All agencies will overservice but there is a limit. Nothing upsets clients more than, "well, that is not in the budget and we will need to raise another PO".

Be transparent. Split your budget into three buckets:

1. Creative

2. What you want to spend on events/partnership

3. What you would like to spend on fees amplifying

This will eliminate those agencies who cannot match your fee expectations and it allows the pitchers an idea of what time they can deploy on the campaign. 

Don’t commit the lion share of your budget to creative production or content, leaving little to be spent on amplification or consumer engagement. Too often clients spend vast amounts on creative, as it is the first activity, leaving minimal budget for activation and use of that creative! 

Chemistry and competency

Rigour and process in the agency are crucial to your success. This is not about who can lunch at Sexy Fish or stay out entertaining all night. Rather, do they understand your vision? Are there processes and ways of working in place to deliver you success? How do they evaluate and measure that success? The boring stuff matters. 

During the pitch look for attention to detail. Are there typos in the presentation? Is there a detailed calendar, for example? Do the budgets add up? If there are errors in their pitch, there will be errors when they pitch you to the media. 

Ensure the people in the room are the actual team to work on your business if appointed. The most common complaint we hear is of smaller agencies, led by the owner, being appointed and then the owner is never be seen them again by the client.

Ensure that every member of the pitch team, down to the junior executives, participate in the presentation, have confidence and a point of view. Make sure you ask questions to all those who pitch. Pitching is a team sport. 

You must have chemistry with the team who will hopefully handle your business. That agency will be an extension of your team, ambassadors for your brand. Do they fit the brand? Do you like them personally as you will be dealing with them day to day. 

Finally give them the opportunity to shine. We have experienced horror stories of waiting for 90 mins in reception because meetings have over run and being given 15 minutes to present detailed plans involving large budgets. 

We have presented to clients who are distracted and disinterested in the meeting. In these cases, don’t ask us to pitch. Remember hours of hard work, research and creative thinking have gone into a great presentation, which you are not paying for by the way. Give them the right amount of time to present, ask probing questions, be courteous and engage. 

They will form views of your brand from that meeting. We once did a 90-minute pitch to a hospitality brand in a hot boardroom business and were not even offered a glass of water. That told us they did not understand hospitality. 

Delivery and management

Many agency/client relationships are broken on the rocks of measuring success and delivering value. Interrogate how the agency intend to report, what measurements they use. Be clear on what good and great results look like. Results are not just measured in press clippings but with a variety of other KPIs. If they agency does not understand this, they are the wrong agency. 

Finally view results in the short- and long-term. Set time-based KPIs and milestones, which leads us to the next point... 

A long-term relationship or a one night stand

Select an agency that you can build a relationship with in the long-term. Consistency is key to communicating. When selecting you need to ask yourself, can I see us growing on this journey? The right agency must share your brand values and a commitment to delivering extra. 

A crucial question to ask is how long they usually retain clients for? Certain agencies are well known for being pitch winners, but lose the business within 12 months, because they cannot deliver what they said they could.