Knowledge Centre – The Blog

Unlike a blog, this is not a collection of musings or things that caught our attention today. Instead, it is a collection of the important insights, trends and issues we have encountered in our work with our clients and the solutions we have developed. This is why we call it our Knowledge Centre. It is where we share the collective knowledge of TrinityP3. We add to this regularly. We update it when and where needed. We recommend bookmarking this page and be sure to visit regularly when looking for inspiration, insight and knowledge on the world of marketing management.

A better way for advertisers' to to select agencies

A better way for advertisers’ to to select agencies

I was at a function for the New Zealand Marketing Association in Auckland last Thursday, where they were talking about agency / client relationships. The interesting thing was that one of the speakers was a marketeer who had pitched his ...
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Best time to negotiate agency fees - during pitch or post pitch?

Best time to negotiate agency fees – during pitch or post pitch?

There is no right or wrong answer for this. Some people prefer to make their selection on quality and then negotiate price, other prefer to negotiate price at the same time as they evaluate quality. TrinityP3 methodology is to negotiate ...
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Managing Television Production Costs for Maximum Value

Managing Television Production Costs for Maximum Value

The television production process is technically complex and often expensive. Therefore it is important that the advertiser is able to ensure that the process, costs and outcomes are managed to not just deliver the best possible outcome, but that that ...
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The traps and pitfalls of setting agency remuneration during a pitch

The traps and pitfalls of setting agency remuneration during a pitch

It became very fashionable, especially amongst less enlightened procurement professionals, to run a pitch or tender during the GFC as a way of reducing agency costs. But many of the advertisers who actively pursued this strategy are already suffering the ...
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How to calculate the real value of your advertising agency retainer

How to calculate the real value of your advertising agency retainer

The real value of your agency retainer is in the mix of resources, not just the level or resources. What do I mean by this? We asked 3 agencies to submit a proposal during a pitch for a clients business ...
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Request for Proposal RFP, Request for Tender RTF, Request for information RFI, Expressions of Interest EOI, WHY? HOW? WHAT?

Request for Proposal RFP, Request for Tender RTF, Request for information RFI, Expressions of Interest EOI, WHY? HOW? WHAT?

The rise in influence of procurement in the marketing category has seen a fundamental change in the way the pitch process is increasingly run. The pitch is now the RFT. Credentials are now a RFI. The financials are a RFP ...
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If chemistry is so important, why do so many agencies get it so horribly wrong?

If chemistry is so important, why do so many agencies get it so horribly wrong?

Psychological studies show that people have assessed and evaluated people they meet within minutes. Be that socially or in a work environment. But there are things you can do to ensure a chemistry session with a potential new client goes ...
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Ten important considerations before an agency should agree to pitch for business

Ten important considerations before an agency should agree to pitch for business

Here are ten important consideration every agency Managing Director / CEO should consider before agreeing to participate in a pitch / tender for a marketers business: 1. The product (or service) must be one which you would be proud to ...
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What is included in the overhead when calculating the agency retainer?

What is included in the overhead when calculating the agency retainer?

When discussing retainers there are some key parts to the calculation: Business expenses: all expenses found on the Profit and Loss Statement. Overhead expenses: all costs found on the income statement except for direct labor, direct materials, and costs attributable ...
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Retainers: good to better, better to best

Retainers: good to better, better to best

Many marketers have moved from media commissions and service fees to retainer-based remuneration models. Yet although retainers often provide a minimum of management during the course of the agreement, they can become problematic at renewal or review time, especially if ...
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Steps to Maximize Marketing Value

Steps to Maximize Marketing Value

Nowadays, everyone's trying to squeeze more out of their marketing budget than ever. From reviewing agencies to evaluating internal relationships, there's plenty of scope for improvement in all areas of the marketing communication mix. So we look at the ten ...
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The four essential stages of the pitch process

The four essential stages of the pitch process

In any pitch process for marketing services providers, being digital, media, creative, direct marketing or what ever, there are four essential stages. Often marketers will get one, two of three of these but rarely if ever, do they get all ...
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The difference between paying consultants on percentage of savings and success fees

The difference between paying consultants on percentage of savings and success fees

It is a common practice in procurement to reward procurement consultants by paying a percent of the savings they have identified. But in the marketing space this is a practice that is fraught with danger for the client, while highly ...
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The power of competitive pressure on advertising agency fees

The power of competitive pressure on advertising agency fees

We are all aware of the direction the world wide economy is heading. But in the past two months it appears that agency fees are going the same way during the pitch process. But the same cannot be said for ...
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Why service level agreements ( SLAs ) are not relevant to marketing services contracts

Why service level agreements ( SLAs ) are not relevant to marketing services contracts

Wikipedia says an SLA is a formally negotiated agreement between two parties. It is a contract that exists between customers and their service provider, client or between service providers. It records the common understanding about services, priorities, responsibilities, guarantee, and ...
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Advertising agency remuneration problems - Retainers

Advertising agency remuneration problems – Retainers

Many advertisers have moved from the old fashion media commission and service fee to retainers based on retaining a set resource, the cost of which is calculated based on the direct salary costs of those resources, multiplied by the overhead ...
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Rate cards versus retainers: evaluating the best model for advertising

Rate cards versus retainers: evaluating the best model for advertising

With media commissions becoming virtually non-existent, the two main remuneration models for advertising service providers is either retainers or project fees specified in rate cards. Some advertisers retain all of the resources they need, others will have no retainer and ...
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Is loading talent fees for voice overs a load of rubbish?

Is loading talent fees for voice overs a load of rubbish?

In the MEAA Award for voiceover talent there remains what appears to be an old-fashioned anomaly in regard to talent fees. The Commercial Voiceover Award details the minimum agreed fees for voiceover performances on television, cinema and radio, and includes ...
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How many billable hours are there in a year?

How many billable hours are there in a year?

This post was updated on October 24, 2018 to reflect more recent developments in the advertising industry. Specifically as the number of billable hours per year is central to the agency human resource approach to fees it has been revealed ...
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Still approving artwork via e-mail?

Still approving artwork via e-mail?

The benefits of sending and receiving artwork files and corrections electronically are clear to anyone familiar with this process. Not having to rely on couriers, where expenses can be high, poor delivery times and occasionally lost artwork. Adobe PDF files ...
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