MARKETER SERVICES
With a combined 50+ years of marketing industry experience — as client-side marketers, in senior agency executive positions, and as management consultants— Ark Advisors brings a unique perspective to the client-agency relationship. We’re regularly called upon to help companies assess, select, compensate and better align their agency partners. As any of our Fortune 100 and other clients will attest, Ark Advisors brings best practices and productive methods to gain maximum value from these critical agency partnerships.
- Agency Search, Selection and Onboarding (AOR or Project Based): With our extensive knowledge of the agency landscape, we’ll help you identify the best partners for your specific needs — whether you are looking for a new AOR or for project-based assignments. We manage and for scopes that require integrated, global capabilities or single-resource needs such as digital, creative, media, social, shopper marketing and more. Our proven process offers a unique blend of analytical rigor and creativity, and is designed to deliver sustainable results. Once selected, we also facilitate a seamless transition to get the agency up-and-running on your business quickly.
- Agency Compensation & Contract Management: Are you paying your agency too much? Too little? Do you need help developing next year’s scope of work and agency compensation agreement? Ark Advisors has negotiated hundreds of compensation arrangements — local, national, and global and of every size, type and level of complexity. We offer expert counsel anytime you’re negotiating or re-negotiating contracts with agency partners. We benchmark your agency fees against our own proprietary database and against industry norms to assure fair value to your company and fair pay to your agencies.
- Relationship Management & Assessment Programs: One of the keys to maintaining a successful, productive relationship between marketers and their agencies is to implement an active Agency Relationship Management program. This is best accomplished by instituting a formal review system that strikes the right balance between the different types of assessment measures – outcomes, drivers of outcomes, and qualitative relationship measures. We believe that any kind of relationship evaluation is most effective when it is a 360o process where both client and agency participate. Ark Advisors can implement single agency relationship management programs where we interview all parties and report on our findings. Or, we can utilize online tools to facilitate processes where multiple agencies are involved. We provide objective interpretation of results and facilitate the creation of practical action plans for improvement. We believe that these evaluations are best conducted semi-annually or annually. If the relationship is in trouble, this process can also help determine whether the partnership can or should be saved.
- Agency Roster Modeling: Do you have the best agencies for each area of your marketing efforts? Have your agencies kept pace with evolving business needs? Has your business changed in any significant way that may require a reassessment of the capabilities of your agency partners (international expansion, new distribution channels, increased competitive activity, etc.)? Perhaps you are seeing a duplication of services and want to consolidate agencies to gain better operational and financial efficiencies. Ark Advisors can evaluate your roster to determine the appropriate mix of agency partners to provide the right services for the right scope at the right cost.
- Internal/External Resource Alignment: We work with your marketing team to align your marketing and agency structures to minimize redundancies and support better collaboration and cooperation. We also have extensive experience helping foster collaboration between in-house agency teams and external agencies, leading to better integration of resources, more collaboration among partners and greater productivity.
- Brand Marketer Coaching: Ark Advisors works with marketing departments to train teams to better communicate clear goals, create strong briefs, improve process and cost efficiencies, and work more effectively with agency partners. We also work with individual executives to create custom plans to reach both professional and personal goals.
- Organizational Change Management: With digital now at the core of most progressive companies, we’ll help you restructure your internal organization to align with modern communications priorities, train your teams to best utilize the myriad of new agency services and data resources available today, or help you transition from your in-house resources to external agency specialists.