Advertisers have admitted that the lack of ‘measurable or objective’ KPIs (key performance indicators) is their number one concern, claiming the wrong things are often being measured.
According to the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA), agencies do not always find it ‘appropriate’ to be paid based on their performance.
In 2020, less than half of the agencies surveyed told the federation that their compensation should be linked to the results of their evaluation.
“Broken down by agency type, clients seem to be prioritising media, full service and creative agencies for most regular evaluation,” the WFA added.
“In at least three out of four cases, media agencies receive compensation based on the results of evaluations as KPIs tend to be more objective and measurable.”
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Digital (35%) and production (44%) partners claimed that they are most likely not to get any opportunity to receive structured feedback. In general, almost one in three agencies surveyed said they still didn’t have any opportunity to evaluate their clients, with a further quarter having to do it in an unstructured way.
Nevertheless, agencies agreed that “no matter the feedback, client is king and won’t change”.
WFA director of global marketing sourcing services, Laura Forcetti, added: “Advertisers need to work harder to become the client of choice by actively nurturing agency relationships. Doing this means starting ‘at home’ and looking at their own performance before blaming their partners.”
