IAPI Launches New Charter for Selecting Media Agencies

IAPI has introduced a Charter for Media Agency Selection with support from a working group of member agencies, leading Irish marketers and pitch consultants. This follows on from the similar Charter for Creative Agency Selection.

The Charter provide brands and agencies with guiding principles to consider before deciding on a pitch process for their media agency partner, with the objective being to significantly reduce the volume and scale of pitches, particularly for clients with media billings under €500,000. If a pitch process is decided upon, it also contains guiding principles for all parties involved, focusing on preparation and behaviours during the process.

This Charter for Media Agency Selection is the culmination of several months of work by IAPI who formed a working group of agencies, pitch consultants and leading marketers in the Irish industry. The need for guiding principles such as these became apparent after the positive feedback from both marketers and IAPI members to the article in IMJ last year 'The untenable facts about pitching'. While IAPI has existing Pitch Guidelines which offer detailed processes for running pitches, this Charter differs as it asks all parties to consider whether a pitch is required in the first place.

The Charter is being supported by several leading brands which include; Allianz, An Post, An Post Commerce, Diageo, Irish Ferries, Laya Healthcare, ptsb and Vodafone. These brands have lent their support to the charter and we are hoping more will follow suit.

In addition, pitch consultants Ebiquity, Empirica, pt78 and Open Communications have endorsed the Charter and will work alongside IAPI members and senior marketers to adhere to it’s principles.

Speaking about the Charter, working group member Jonathan Conlon, chief operating officer, GroupM and a member of the IAPI Board says, “This charter is a welcome resource for all parties as we strive to create more sustainable working practices. According to media agency respondents, statistics from the IAPI census show an estimated 20 pitches annually, with each pitch taking up 561 hours, which equates to a total of six fulltime employees working on pitches per year in each media group. This cannot be maintained so designing an industry wide charter with a call to action for all parties to respect and observe these guidelines is a positive move for our sector”.

The financial burden on agencies of taking part in prolonged pitch procedures has been highly publicised by the industry for some years. In addition to the heavy burden on staff resources as illustrated above, the latest IAPI Industry Census estimates that the average media pitch costs agencies nearly €70,000 on 3rd party costs.

Charley Stoney, CEO of IAPI says, “IAPI exists to promote and support the growth of the sector and initiatives like this are vital. Of course, by applying fair business practice to the selection of media agency partners our aim is to maintain a profitable industry that is flourishing, and most importantly an industry that is actively supporting the indigenous media that Ireland is so proud of.” 

A copy of the new Charter for Media Agency Selection can be downloaded here and is also available in the Pitching section of the IAPI website.