Getting the Best Out of Your Agency Partners

Dr. Andrea LaFountain, CEO of Mind Field Solutions Corporation, interviews Horacio Rodriguez, Oncology Marketing Manager for AstraZeneca, on how to obtain the best from one of your most valued relationships.

What is the hallmark of a top-class agency?
There’s a variety of skills and knowledge a good agency should bring to the table:

• Agencies need to be fully conversant with the internal regulatory approval process. When agencies don’t understand all the nuances of approval, timelines get thrown off, small details become time-consuming problems, and frustration levels all around run high.
• The agency must also be familiar with the brand’s positioning and strategy. It is, after all, the agency that’s pulling through the messaging to deliver on the client’s strategic positioning. This knowledge is the foundation of everything [the agency] recommends, executes and delivers.
• I also look for success with other brands within the corporation. Even though it’s such a fast-paced environment, it’s very important to take the time to do the research on any agency you are considering partnering with—if you don’t, errors can begin to mount and eventually have exorbitant opportunity cost implications.

How do you differentiate between the major players?
I always ask, “How deep is their bench?” In other words, do they have a wide selection of A-players? I support Arimidex—a relatively small brand within AstraZeneca, but I also want the A-players. If they are all consumed with the bigger brands, then I’ll continue looking for the best strategic partner that can meet our brand’s needs. I need to know that they have a sufficient account talent pool and that they are not providing the B-team to support my smaller brand’s needs.

Are there any methods you use to get an early read on their contribution of value?
An early read on their contribution is how easily their tactical plans get through the approval process. Plans are snagged in this process if their medical writing, strategy or position is incorrect in any way. Although, as marketing managers, we are ultimately accountable for the quality and timeliness of our tactical execution. We would like to avoid having to micromanage our agencies— we need them to move forward with some independence, anticipating problems and dealing with them ahead of time to keep things progressing smoothly. Delays in the approval process inevitably mean delayed execution. This is a good early indicator of whether the agency is up to the job or not.

How do you measure their performance against your objectives?
It is important to stay on track with the timeline. Major milestones should be built in along the way, and we expect these milestones to be achieved on time if not ahead of time. We are constantly raising the bar, for example, when a 6-week milestone is met a week ahead of schedule, the next campaign with similar criteria will have that that same milestone truncated to 5 weeks. We need to keep seeking improved efficiencies, given the nature of the business these days. This is particularly important for brands toward the end of their lifecycle, where low cost and high efficiency are what deliver contribution back to the business. For newer brands, excellence in creativity may become a higher performance criteria than efficiency.

Another measure of their performance against objectives is how well they are actually driving the brand’s positioning. We track this through market research via recurring ATU (Attitude, Trial & Usage) tracking studies. If the creative and execution are working well, we should see this impact in the market through our market research.

Often we have more quantitative data on performance. For example, for an adherence campaign, Rx PDOT (Patient Days of Therapy) activity would be a key measure of success. And, of course we constantly get anecdotal feedback from the field on what doctors are thinking/saying—which should all be on message if the tools that we’ve created with our agencies are correctly pulled through the strategy.

Agency costs consume a large proportion of the marketing budget. Do you find there is any potential for improved pricing or negotiations with agencies?
If a single agency is supporting multiple brands across the organization, then there should be significant savings. I would highly recommend talking with managers on other brands. Call a meeting with your colleagues—order in some pizza—and strategize on how you approach major agencies. We get together quarterly, and everyone loves it. Your procurement partners can also be involved in these meetings. Preferred agencies usually have structured fee schedules—but new agencies are certainly up for negotiating to get in on the business.

Horacio Rodriguez has certified MBA’s in General Management & International Business Development and 12 years experience in pharmaceutical sales & marketing. (For an agency’s perspective, see “A Great Relationship” in the June issue of PM360 magazine.)

Dr. LaFountain is the CEO of Mind Field Solutions Corp., a consulting firm that specializes in evidence-based marketing.

Below is an expanded version of "Getting the Best Out of Your Agency Partners," an interview with Horacio Rodriguez by Dr. Andrea LaFountain published in the June supplement to PM360 magazine.

Brand managers and their agency partners can become joined at the hip. Given the inter-dependence between the two, how can we secure an effective relationship?

A good relationship is essential. I highly recommend quarterly performance reviews with your agency partners. Develop formal criteria, and distribute them internally to all brand managers who use that agency. Some pharmaceutical manufacturers have a single point person or Agency Director who has primary responsibility for that agency—they could coordinate the effort. After the internal feedback is gathered and processed, the internal Agency Director should sit down for a one-on-one with the agency partner to review performance. The usual rules of engagement apply:

• Be gentle enough to save face—they are genuinely trying to do the job well while operating at light speed to achieve lofty targets.
• Offer praise for work that was done well.
• Be candid on where you need to see improvement.
• Brainstorm on how to solve any existing obstacles to improve performance.
• Don’t accuse when things go wrong. Share responsibility—it could be your own poor communication that led to the failure.
• End on a positive note.

The relationship needs to continue, so strive for balance if at all possible. Understandably, not all agency partnerships are destined for success, therefore make sure that expectations are clear and established early in the relationship.

Can you offer up a few more top tips for getting the best out of the agency partnership?

• Know and live the brand strategy—everything you do should be effectively supporting your brand’s strategy.
• Don’t fall into the trap of being only a doer. On a weekly basis, raise your head above the noise, and ask yourself, "Are we still adding value to the strategy or should we course correct?"
• Meet with your colleagues on a quarterly basis to compare agency partnership stories. This will help you see opportunities for improved performance or at the very least make you appreciate what you currently have with your agency.

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