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Author Archives: Darren Woolley

About Darren Woolley

Darren is considered a thought leader on all aspects of marketing management. A Problem Solver, Negotiator, Founder & Global CEO of TrinityP3 - Marketing Management Consultants, founding member of the Marketing FIRST Forum and Author. He is also a Past-Chair of the Australian Marketing Institute, Ex-Medical Scientist and Ex-Creative Director. And in his spare time he sleeps. Darren's Bio Here Email: darren@trinityp3.com

Six reasons why you may have many more agencies and suppliers than you need

Posted on September 22, 2017 by Darren Woolley
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We provide a very popular solution called Agency Roster Alignment where we analyse and map the current roster against the advertiser’s strategic needs, spend and satisfaction with the incumbents. Some of the really common responses when we report back on the current rosters is, first, many are surprised at the number of agencies and marketing vendors on the roster and, second, how they could have ended up in this situation with so many agencies and suppliers. Let me deal with the first response and then expand on the second in the observation points below.

First off, when we take about rosters we are not simply talking about the major agencies such as creative, media and digital, plus perhaps a PR company, a design studio, and that sales promotion firm you use occasionally. We are talking about all of the agencies, suppliers and vendors that you spend your budget with, including market research firms, event companies, mail houses, technology solutions providers, and everyone in between.

Just as marketing has become more complex, the number of vendors, agencies and suppliers has grown too. But the fact is there are some very solid reasons as to why you may have more agencies and suppliers than you need. And that is not a good thing, as each extra one on your roster is consuming time and money by just being there. Continue reading →

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Why performance based payments need to be an incentive not a disincentive

Posted on September 13, 2017 by Darren Woolley
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How do you create high-performance teams? Well if you look at what often passes as performance based compensation, you would think it is about taking money away from the agency before then setting an unreasonable and unrealistic performance metric, and then asking the agency to work at getting their money back. Talk about all stick and no carrot. Is it any wonder that so many marketers report that their agency performance remuneration efforts failed? Let’s be honest for a minute and admit that most of these performance models were really about reducing the agency fee and had very little to do with truly wanting to encourage performance. The technique would be applied usually as a way to get the agency to reduce their overall fee by 10% to 15% by placing it ‘at risk’ for an opportunity of earning back perhaps a maximum of 20%.  Continue reading →

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Managing Marketing: Dealing with the rapidly increasing complexity of the media market

Posted on September 11, 2017 by Darren Woolley
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Scott Hagedorn, CEO of the world’s fastest growing agency, Hearts & Science talks with Darren on the important relationship between science and intuition in advertising, especially for marketers dealing with an increasingly complex world. The similarities and differences between agile marketing and the scientific method and role data play in decision-making. Continue reading →

Posted in customer relationship management, data & direct marketing, industry news & trends, media planning & buying, Podcasts, return on investment | Comments Off on Managing Marketing: Dealing with the rapidly increasing complexity of the media market

How long payment terms impact client / agency relationships

Posted on September 8, 2017 by Darren Woolley
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Let me be completely up-front here, this is not just an issue for advertising agencies, it is also an issue for consulting companies like mine. There are many major companies who will put you through a detailed and protracted procurement process, negotiate your tendered price down and then inform you that they have payment terms of 90 days or more.

Others are less obnoxious in that they state their payment terms up front, which, depending on the type and size of the project being tendered, allows us the opportunity to politely withdraw from the process because there are plenty of other more reasonable companies willing to pay for our services on 30 days and sometimes less so that we do not need to waste our time on companies who basically expect their smaller vendors and suppliers to act as their source of free cash. Continue reading →

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Managing Marketing: The importance of understanding culture to stay relevant in a changing world

Posted on September 1, 2017 by Darren Woolley
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Sharon Foo is the Client Partner at Sparks & Honey and she talks with Darren on the importance of diversity, data, and technology in understanding the cultural changes occurring in society and staying relevant to your audience, allowing you to change to meet the future needs of the market. Continue reading →

Posted in agency solutions, data & direct marketing, industry news & trends, interesting observations, marketing process optimisation, Podcasts, return on investment, strategic management | Comments Off on Managing Marketing: The importance of understanding culture to stay relevant in a changing world

The danger of confusing best practice with common practice

Posted on August 30, 2017 by Darren Woolley
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Many of the challenges marketers are facing are new. Digital technology has had major impact in disrupting all aspects of business and particularly marketing because it has disrupted consumer behaviour too. Therefore, while we agree that the foundations of marketing and marketing strategy are still essential, there are new challenges arising in the implementation because of the increased complexity and constant change. In the face of these new challenges and complexity, many of the old tried and true solutions no longer work. Yet it is human nature to stick with what you know or what has been tried and tested, rather than trying something new. Continue reading →

Posted in agency remuneration / compensation, agency search & selection, Evalu8ing - Relationship Performance Monitoring, interesting observations, marketing procurement | Comments Off on The danger of confusing best practice with common practice

Are all your strategies getting in the way of delivering marketing performance?

Posted on August 23, 2017 by Darren Woolley
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As we have shared previously, much of the work we do with our clients is to align their structure and process to effectively deliver their marketing strategy. The starting point in this process is reviewing the agreed strategy so we can determine the requirements of that strategy that need to be delivered to achieve the results or objectives. But with all of the complexity in marketing these days and the diversity of business objectives, especially in larger organisations, that are supported by marketing, we often find there is more than one strategy and often multiple strategies that are misaligned or even worse, in conflict with each other. Continue reading →

Posted in marketing process optimisation, media planning & buying, return on investment, social media & digital marketing, strategic management | Comments Off on Are all your strategies getting in the way of delivering marketing performance?

Managing Marketing: The importance of an insightful and robust agency search & selection process

Posted on August 18, 2017 by Darren Woolley
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Kylie Ridler-Dutton is a Senior Consultant at TrinityP3 and a specialist in agency search and selection. Here she chats with Darren regarding the agency search and selection process and the considerations required when planning and managing a successful pitch process for a wide range of agency types including creative, media, digital, social, PR, technology suppliers and more. Continue reading →

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How many agencies is too many when it comes to roster size?

Posted on August 9, 2017 by Darren Woolley
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A very common complaint we hear is “How did I end up with so many agencies?” usually closely followed by the question “How many agencies should I have?” And while Nathan Hodges has answered this comprehensively here, it is interesting that marketers often find themselves with way too many agencies on their roster either because they have inherited a roster that is out of control or it has grown organically right under the nose of the marketing team. Continue reading →

Posted in agency search & selection, agency solutions, interesting observations, marketing process optimisation, marketing procurement, strategic management | Comments Off on How many agencies is too many when it comes to roster size?

Managing Marketing: Reviewing the ANA Advertising Financial Management Conference in San Diego

Posted on August 4, 2017 by Darren Woolley
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Lyndon Brill, Senior Consultant at TrinityP3 and Darren discuss the sessions and topics that captured their attention at the annual Advertising Financial Management Conference, this year in San Diego, USA. Covering everything from Block Chain, to Transparency. Bot Fraud to Compensation and more. Continue reading →

Posted in agency remuneration / compensation, industry news & trends, marketing procurement, media planning & buying, Podcasts, return on investment | Comments Off on Managing Marketing: Reviewing the ANA Advertising Financial Management Conference in San Diego

Struggling with your strategy? Try the Costanza Maneuver

Posted on August 2, 2017 by Darren Woolley
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Much of the consulting work we do with marketers and their organisations involves aligning structure and process to the strategy, be it marketing structure or agency roster structure. Of course to effectively deliver this work requires a clear articulation of the business and marketing strategy, which can be a challenge to find. Not because there is not strategy. On the contrary, there are often too many strategies. But also there is often confusion over the strategy and the objective(s). Continue reading →

Posted in agency solutions, interesting observations, marketing process optimisation, strategic management | Comments Off on Struggling with your strategy? Try the Costanza Maneuver

Do you remunerate or compensate your agency?

Posted on July 28, 2017 by Darren Woolley
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This is the second in a series of one minute videos that address the many complex challenges facing marketing, media and advertising today. The Golden Minute series is an attempt to prove Albert Einstein right when he said “The definition of genius is taking the complex and making it simple”. But he also said “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler”. So we will leave it for you to judge. Please let us know here if there is a topic you would like us to cover in a Golden Minute. Continue reading →

Posted in agency remuneration / compensation, agency solutions, marketing procurement, return on investment | Comments Off on Do you remunerate or compensate your agency?

Managing Marketing: The concept of social media for sales in B2B relationships

Posted on July 21, 2017 by Darren Woolley
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Tom Skotidas is the Founder and General Manager of Skotidas Consulting Group, specialising in social and digital demand generation. Here he talks with Darren on the power of social media to generate sales and revenue as well as build business reputations and relationships. Continue reading →

Posted in customer relationship management, data & direct marketing, industry news & trends, social media & digital marketing | Comments Off on Managing Marketing: The concept of social media for sales in B2B relationships

When is the right time to apply the Golden Rule in marketing?

Posted on July 19, 2017 by Darren Woolley
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This is the first in a series of one minute videos that address one of the many complex challenges facing marketing, media and advertising today. The Golden Minute series is an attempt to prove Albert Einstein right when he said “The definition of genius is taking the complex and making it simple”. But he also said “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler”. So we will leave it for you to judge. Please let us know here if there is a topic you would like us to cover in a Golden Minute. Continue reading →

Posted in agency remuneration / compensation, agency search & selection, interesting observations, marketing procurement, media planning & buying, strategic management | Comments Off on When is the right time to apply the Golden Rule in marketing?

Is there nothing fair or reasonable about agency remuneration?

Posted on July 14, 2017 by Darren Woolley
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During more than 15 years of agency benchmarking and negotiations two words I have heard often repeated in these discussions is fair and reasonable. Marketers, procurement and agencies all agree that the remuneration model should be fair and reasonable. It is no wonder these words are so popular, after all they sound fair and reasonable. This is why so many guidelines on agency remuneration, including ISBA in 2006, ACASA in 2009, ISBA and IPA in 2012 and the recommendations of competitors and even ourselves, have all stated and restated that agency remuneration should strive to be fair to both advertisers and their agencies. Continue reading →

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