The process of agency evaluation involves regular assessment of two aspects of performance area – financial and qualitative.
The financial assessment focuses on how the agency conducts its business to verify costs and expenses, the number of personnel hours charged to an account to an account and what payments are made to media and other outside service suppliers.
Qualitative assessment explores the agency’s efforts devoted in planning, developing and implementing the client company’s advertising campaign and an assessment of the achievements. For a qualitative assessment even the small things matter; such as a quick turnaround time, creativity because this is what the agency is in the business of, value add in terms of giving the client a creative edge by giving them a ‘creative leap’ etc.One can also evaluate agencies by their track record of losing clients or acquiring new clients and retaining them.
The parameters on which an ad agency’s creative services dept is evaluated are as follows:
(The various parameters are ranked on a scale of 1-10 with 1 being the poorest and 10 being Excellent)
- Agency regularly produces fresh ideas and original approaches?
- Creative executions are consistently on strategy?
- Research is effectively used in strategic development and in pre-post testing of advertising
- Creative group is knowledgeable about the company’s products, markets and strategies?
- Creative group is concerned with good and consistent advertising communications and develops campaigns, ads that exhibit this concern
- Creative group produces on time and submits for review in time to permit orderly revisions
- Creative group performs well under pressure
- Agency presentations are well organized with sufficient examples of proposed executions
- Creative group participates in major campaign presentations
- Agency presents ideas and executions not requested but which they feel are good opportunities.
- Creative group takes constructive criticism and redirection
- Creative group effectively controls costs
- Overall evaluation of creative services
