Jul 8, 2009 | Richard Bird | 1 Comments

Industry Reacts to P&G Preferred Vendor Proposal

On the P&G Preferred Vendor Proposal:

Marketer’s plan to pre-approve production companies called ‘absurd,’ ‘shortsighted’

Count me in on “absurd” and “shortsighted.”

This initiative from P&G seems to be aimed, first, at producers rather than strategists, but still unsettling. As principal and founder of a brand strategy firm of 3 decades, I’ve been on the receiving end of exactly the same “process” more than once applied (with devastating results) to creative and strategy. This includes demands for “transparency” (most despised biz-speak) and requests for firm revenues by client, expenses, staff salaries, et cetera, no matter public or privately held.

For new readers: I have ended and declined R.BIRD client relationships worth $millions defending our value against client proposals toward commodity.

In this creativity-online.com article, one excerpt sums up my reaction:

“When you’re in a world blasted with so much imagery and you need to stand out to make a difference, you want to get the most talented, most creative people to make your stuff stand out. The way to do that is not to bully their creative choices or create a shallower talent pool.”

As example: R.BIRD was very recently tendered an RFP from a major national brand. The RFP came to us (surprised?) via a third-party, procurement agency. Despite that, we considered the problem and wrote our recommended response with rationale, process and cost. The response was,”Fill in the rate card only.” The result of such a process endorses an ever-shallower talent pool of resources best at reducing costs and nothing else.

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