Much has been written lately about the decline in use of consultants by marketers as they manage their agency selection process.  In addition, there has been a great deal of conversation about which consultant does it well, which ones require agencies to pay to participate and what role consultants should really have in the review process.  I am going to save that discussion for another day.

As I was reading a recent article in AdAge, http://adage.com/digitalnext/post?article_id=148422, it confirmed again one of the key reasons to use a consultant.  With all of the changes agencies are making and the convergence of expertise, it is even more difficult for a marketer to evaluate which agency is good at what.

This is where the selection process and Pile’s knowledge of the agency universe comes into play.  We don’t tell marketers who to choose, but we do give them the tools to make the best decision.  While every agency tells you what they are good at, the proof is in the work they do for their clients.  The ability to evaluate that work through the filter of the marketer’s needs does just that.  And while you could say procurement can get at that information without a consultant, procurement doesn’t deal with agencies day in and day out.  They can’t provide the knowledge about what is really happening at the agency and the status of their wins or staffing changes.  Pile can.

Any good consultant knows that our role will evolve as the industry evolves, but the continued diversification of agency capabilities will continue to support the use of a consultant when selecting an agency partner.