I’m sure I have written about this before, but seeing this article reminds me of it again.

Everyone is talking about the increased involvement of procurement and how it is a force to be reckoned with.   But it doesn’t seem like anyone has hit it yet.

The recommendation outlined in this article on AdAge is a good one, but I’m not sure it goes far enough.

Yes, marketing and procurement have to have open lines of communications.  But what if there is a dedicated marketing procurement person.  I have worked with some clients who have this position and it is amazing how much better it works.  It works especially well if that marketing procurement person has an advertising/marketing background.  Then, they really get it.  They also have a much tighter relationship with the marketing team and maybe even the agency.

I also find that it helps to have the client be upfront with their agency and together work to deal with procurement demands.  This fosters feelings of a partnership and willingness by marketing to go to bat for the agency.

We can empathize with agencies and clients.  We often have to go through procurement as well, both when getting our statement of work approved and working on agency compensation.  But I know that our dealings and ramifications of procurement are much less burdensome than agencies'.

I don’t think we’ve seen the end of procurements involvement.  And as stated in the article, clients and agencies just have to learn to work with them.