Consult Olga

Hoorah the race season starts!

2011-02-21T08:15:00.000-08:00

For those of you who follow my blogs you will know I'm a marshal for motorbikes and motorcars, mainly at Brands Hatch. This year I'm going to marshal at Snetterton for the British Motorcycle Racing Club, affectionately known as Bemsee. Bemsee will be the first bike club to race on the new Snetterton 300 track so more volunteers are needed.

A couple of weekends ago we had our marshals training day followed by a track day for the rookie riders. We even had them practicing starts (one of the most dangerous parts) in the most controlled environment that we could give them(unfortunately it rained). I was fortunate enough to go up to Race Control to learn more about how the club runs. What amazes me is that the entire club is made up of volunteers. It is mainly down to the generosity of time and petrol money, that the club can run at all. The majority of the revenue from the riders' entrance fee, goes to paying for the track hire and the large amount of insurance needed.

Each week people spend most of the weekend waving flags, checking bikes for their bhp, checking the riders clothing or running Race Control, just so the club can find the next Casey Stoner (our most recent famous rider). Some even take a written test to be qualified to carry out their role and just because they have a love of bikes and bike's racing. Then on a Monday they return to their day jobs, some as rocket engineers, teachers or acupuncturists. It astonishes me that the club runs at all and infact I believe runs well (although there is the odd moan and groan) with this small army of volunteers.

Over the years I've worked in a variety of businesses and I've come across a large number of individuals who will never be happy in their job and because of that have caused endless problems that took up more and more management time. Never happy because unfortunately they do it to pay the mortgage, and not because they have a passion.

Big Five Production Agencies

2011-02-21T07:15:00.000-08:00

Last November Adam Kirby the CEO of Mundocom UK was called away on business and asked if I would take part in a panel discussion about production agencies. You can see the video at http://vimeo.com/channels/adstream but if you were expecting us all to be arguing against each other, you'd be very mistaken. As we all work in the same market we do have similar outlooks on our businesses and I'm sure that will continue.

As for the question of decoupling, there is no right or wrong answer. Last week someone said that they knew my views on decoupling which I thought was a naive comment. Whether a client should or shouldn't decouple is entirely dependent on their business and their business needs, coupled with what they want to achieve and what they are achieving now.

The cynics in you will say that in my past two roles I would have always said yes to a client's business but the opposite is true. Twice I've turned down opportunities to pitch for a business that wanted to decouple on the basis that not only did it make no business sense for the supplier to pitch for it but also no business sense for the client to issue the tender. The trend to decouple production away from the creative agencies, believing that it wasn't their core business, has taken away the very first thought that the whole idea started with. Is your supplier fit for purpose?

IPA Future of Creative Services

2011-02-21T06:41:00.000-08:00

I recently attended the IPA, Future of Creative Services Debate http://creativeservicesuk.blogspot.com/. A great deal of the evening was given over to Phil Nunn (Executive Media Director, TBWA\London) and Andy Fowler (Executive Creative Director Brothers & Sisters) who both had some interesting things to say about what it is that agencies produce and are likely to produce in the future.

The actual debate was all too short and revolved around the question of what roles do people in creative services play in this multi channel world we work in and what they should be called? I'm not sure it entirely matters what you call someone as long as their role is defined and understood. Andrew Dobbs from the The Talent Business somewhat agreed maintaining that each agency has different requirements and demands. A small agency can have a Project Manager who is hands on for everything, now deemed to be a Super Producer, something that the large agencies seem to be demanding. I wonder though whether this is actually a case of multi channel demands affecting big agency working? My discussions afterwards with one or two people in big agencies seemed to reflect this. If you are in a small agency with just a handful of accounts it's easier to become a Super Producer than if you are working on a two handful's of accounts that are global as well as multi channel.

Years ago when I moved from JWT to a small business-to-business agency, I had to become a Super Producer of sorts, as I no longer had departments that did art buying, production buying, typography and print buying. Luckily though having worked closely with those departments over the years I had a good grasp of what was needed to get the job done. And this is where I agree with Tim Bath (CSD of AMV) who likened a PM in an advertising agency to one on a building site. They don't have to be able to lay bricks, but they certainly need to know a good man that can!

So did it work?

2011-02-21T02:10:00.000-08:00

I read with interest this recent blog http://blog.procurementleaders.com/procurement-blog/2011/2/18/guest-blog-time-to-unbundle-your-advertising.html . It's sentiments not dissimilar to a blog that Simon Steel wrote http://blog.supplymanagement.com/2011/01/decoupling-strategy/.

Having once worked at Schawk and recently consulted with Mundocom, the Publicis Groupe Global Production platform, these are comments I'm all too familiar with. However what I'm not hearing is any clients talking about how successful their decoupling project has been and the savings they have made. Some years ago the COI did issue some figures of savings they had made and how successful it had been but given what is happening to them now, I'm not so sure that's a good advertisement.

At my recent meeting with procurement about how they issue tenders, we did raise the question of what is it that procurement are trying to achieve. What I asked is at the end of the tenders is anyone doing an analysis of whether they achieved their goals.

So if anyone out there would like to share their experiences or let me help them find out if they have achieved their goals, then drop me a line.

Meeting with procurement

2011-02-21T01:49:00.000-08:00

I had a great meeting with the CIPS Group on Valentine's Day last week. They listened to my concerns and had some interesting thoughts and suggestions around the matters I raised in my previous blog. They also had some concerns of their own, mainly regarding the creative agencies and their poor response times, lack of preparation.

What did come out of all of this is that there is lack of resource on both the supplier and client side which doesn't help the process and indeed delays the result. They were surprised to hear that it can take from the issue of a tender to a supplier earning revenue as long as 18 months. What company (client or supplier) in these times of recession has 18 months to invest with the possibility of no return?

But more importantly there seems to be lack of clarity as to what the client is trying to achieve which leads to confusion. So whilst there may be a clear process outlined, that process tends to crumble under the weight of questions or issues arising that were not expected.

There is no easy solution here, but we have to make a start. Define what it is you are trying to achieve and engage all stakeholders. Discuss your thoughts with a handful of suppliers that can help flesh out the issues you will face along the way. Only when you are certain of the outcome you want to achieve, should you proceed with the tender. This all sounds logical and sensible but it seems that with the recession biting at all of our heels, the tendency to react, and perhaps badly, rather than think has been our response so far.

Working with procurement

2011-01-29T03:09:00.000-08:00

I’ve been talking to Tina Fegent about RFI’s and RFP’s and my experience working on them over the past few years. I'm concerned that there is duplication of effort on both sides and that the end result is often lots of work and a slower response to achieving real cost savings or efficiencies. Tina has very kindly agreed to let me discuss these points at her CIPS Marketing Group, which I will be doing on Feb 14th. I hope that by opening a dialogue we can start to improve processes and results on both client and supplier side.

Outlined here are some of my findings.
No real structure on RFI's and RFP's with every company doing it differently, so duplication of effort on both sides

Deadlines quite tight for supplier but procurement then miss set deadlines and fail to communicate

Using old RFPs to create new ones thereby using the wrong terminology or category definitions

Lack of understanding re TUPE and it's implications

Sharing of supplier questions

Lack of understanding of volumes

Quality of debriefs (if there is a debrief)

I'll let you know how our discussions go.

And in my spare time...

2010-04-06T12:48:00.000-07:00

Those of you who know me well will know that I'm a keen motorbike fan and ride a Kawasaki Ninja 250. You can see it on the picture in my profile. Well recently I decided to train as a marshal for both motorcar and motorbike racing.

It's been a very interesting journey with a full days training at the Lydden track in Kent. There we were taught how to remain safe whilst marshaling a track event. We even got to set off fire extinguishers and wave a few flags.

Then I had a taster day at Brands Hatch where I not only got a free breakfast but got to dress up in an orange bib which had marshal written across the back! The basis of the job is to hang around until someone crashes out of the race and then help the driver back to safety, warn the other drivers and remove whatever is dangerous from the track. It sounds simple but as everyone mentioned no two incidents are the same so you have to be prepared for everything. And as all the marshals said, the quiet races are the best races. Doing nothing is a plus.

The one thing that amazed me is how hard the marshals work and how difficult it would be to run a race without any marshals. Yet amazingly the entire network of marshals is voluntary. Hundreds of individuals give up their free time, often traveling miles and camping out over a weekend due to their love of motor sports. The photograph shows a few of my marshal buddies when the track was 'dead' who guided me through the ropes on Post 2 at Brands Hatch.

So if you are ever off to see or participate in a motor sport event, keep an eye out for me and be sure to give the marshals a thank you.

Show me the money!!

2010-01-22T07:54:00.000-08:00

Last night I attended the launch of the Kingston Smith W1 Financial performance of marketing services companies annual survey 2009. There were some interesting facts and figures presented which are contained in detail in their 161 page report.

What I found astonishing is how little money marketing services companies make, unless they are media agencies, and furthermore how little digital companies are making despite the increase in digital spend by most clients.

The survey covers 50 independent UK marketing groups and UK quoted groups. As such the report covered only a part of 2009 due to financial reporting, so the full effect of the recession is yet to hit. However interim results aren’t encouraging with 80% of groups showing a reduction in profits. All disciplines from digital through advertising to public relations are covered.

There was only a revenue increase of 19% with much of the growth due to previous acquisitions activity. Margins fell to 9.8% with only 13 groups making more than the magical 15% margin.

But as I said my biggest surprise was the operating profits of digital companies which were noted to be the worst ever and the lowest across all sectors. Why is that? At a recent digital social networking event I attended there was much discussion about the latest social/PR networking solution to come of age. However one question frequently came to mind. How do they make their money? Whilst these companies may have exceptionally talented creative thinking people, the fact remains they are a business and unless they get their act together quickly, they won’t have one.

A techology if only...

2010-01-08T09:54:00.000-08:00

Tina Fegent has recently made some comments on her blog about “the lack of technological systems and processes that an agency had in place, both for its own internal use and for the interaction with clients.” Whilst I’ve commented that it’s not just agencies, clients can be slow to adopt new technologies, I’d like to discuss here the age old problem (and I’d like to ask why) of the lack of technology between media agencies and production houses/production departments.

Why are schedules supplied by media agencies on a good old Excel spreadsheet. Then updated without any real indication of what’s been updated leading the production staff to spend hours trawling through the schedule to spot the differences. Added to which there is little automation between the production agency and the publisher so it’s still down to phone calls and emails about whether there has been a booking and what it’s for. Phone calls from publishers to production agencies saying they have a booking for which the agency have no knowledge, is all too common.
There is no financial benefit to the media agencies to introduce a system that helps the publisher and production agency so they don’t. Production agencies and publishers can talk, discuss and highlight the problem areas as much as they like, and believe me they do. It’s up to clients to put the pressure on media agencies to introduce a system that will produce cost saving benefits down the line.
If companies such as Adstream and Vio could automate the process (and I believe they can), then so much time could be saved which could significantly reduce man hours at publishers and production houses alike. If I was a client and spend the majority of my marketing budget on press, I’d be pushing for a system that could ultimately reduce my production costs. I’d demand it of my media agency as a term of my business.

So, I want to know clients. Why aren’t you?

Breakfast with Procurement

2009-11-29T02:54:00.000-08:00

I was very kindly invited to the Iris Procurement breakfast, a good initiative run by the agency to discuss some of the current issues around marketing procurement. On the whole it was a very well behaved affair. Tina Fegent, who runs her own procurement consultancy, believes that marketing procurement is getting a bad press at the moment and you can read more about that on her blog entitled “First Ever Blog”.

Well there are good procurement people and also very poor ones from my experience. Jane Dormer, who is Head of GB Procurement at Coca Cola, said that agencies should invite procurement into agencies to learn more about each other rather than just wait till negotiations start. Procurement professionals are human after all. However as I pointed out (with a rumble of agreement) sometimes we’re not even aware that there has been a change in procurement staff and if it’s a tender we’re encouraged not to speak to them or email them unless it’s through a portal. None of which really gives the impression that procurement are human! My comment too that marketing procurement staff frequently change jobs was met with some disbelief and ISBA said they had research to show that marketing procurement attrition is quite low. However again there were people in the room who have had similar experiences to my own and indeed I could name four top UK advertisers whose procurement staff changed at least once in less than 2 years and 2 whose staff changed 3 times in the same period. That’s just not enough time to develop a relationship and move it forward, allowing discussions for new ways of remuneration and measurement. There was also a sharp intake of breath when I pointed out I had at times had to help write an RFP/RFI for a procurement manager as they’d just been promoted to marketing services from an unrelated industry and didn’t understand it at all. Which was then born out by a procurement manager who had experienced this herself. She'd had to learn about marketing services "on the job" with no real training from her company. Whilst another mentioned she bought everything for her organisation from travel to stationery to marketing and was now looking at ‘digital’ without a clue as to what ‘digital’ was. Needless to say my business card was passed around.

But back to Tina’s comment re bad press for marketing procurement. I think she’s right and my experience with procurement could fuel that bad press even more than I have done above. But where would that get us? This isn’t a competition and there shouldn’t be any sides. There’s a group of professional people trying to do their jobs to the best of their ability with the added pressure of this recession. Tina wants us to move forward and stop the negative press but this is only going to happen if agencies and procurement invest in education and training to cover some of the issues. However training doesn’t have to be expensive and time consuming putting a strain on already tight resources. In roughly the same amount of time we spent at Iris discussing the issues and eating bacon baps, we could have a half day seminar covering some of the key points of best practices in procurement, and for agencies, how to build a relationship with procurement. I was unlucky enough not to have worked with Jane Dormer and I say that as she has a reputation for being open and fair. Is that a sharp intake of breath I hear? But like she says, they are human after all.

Up to date thinking

2009-11-13T08:23:00.001-08:00

Hi everyone

I've just relaunched my website and will be posting here, the latest news in the industry. I look forward to your comments on my site and my blogs.

Take care out there.

Olga

The Streets of San Francisco

2009-11-13T06:53:00.000-08:00

Everyone should visit San Francisco. It should be on the list of places to see before you die. It's a real surprise and not at all what I had imagined from my hours of TV watching. For a start it's walkable being only 7 miles squared. This fact comes as a complete surprise to people when you tell then. Then they ad, "ah but it's very hilly." Which indeed it is, but with my dodgy knee I managed to walk from the start of one of the cable car lines to the cable car museum. So if I can do it, then so can you!

There is so much to do in this lovely little city that I'd recommend on having a serious think before you go. You must go to Alcatraz and they advise you book it up well in advance, which you can easily do online. I was lucky to have the youngest guard ever to work in Alcatraz visit the island the day I was there. The audio tour is excellent and well thought through, as the very prisoners and inmates who stayed there, guide you through the smallest accommodation I've ever seen. Go and see the solitary confinement and close the door if you dare. I couldn't do it. I was lucky to be there on a very bright and hot day, but I should imagine that with SF's micro climate bringing in fog and rain at a moment's notice, it must have been very bleak. I could do a blog just about this island prison, but I'm not going to as you just need to go yourself.

Of course you must see the Golden Gate Bridge, but that's if the fog will allow. Having been there for 2 days I was lucky that the fog lifted just as we arrived at the bridge and gave me my photo opportunity. A sad note about the bridge is that around 23 people a year jump off it and so there is a telephone to a help line and notes about not jumping as it is fatal. Brrr! Not something to dwell on I think.

You can shop till you drop with late opening hours and a large variety of shops, from the boutique to the usual ones. And you can eat every type of food you can think of. Our highlight being China Town where our guide took us to a small restaurant that is family owned. The food is excellent and remarkably cheap even though it looks like a small dingy cafe with formica tables.

The cable car museum is incredibly interesting and well worth a visit as this is where all the cables run from. It's worth watching the video that explains why they set up cable cars and what happened after the great earthquake that led to the great fire. And of course no trip to this bright side of the West Coast could be complete without a trip on one of the cable cars. I'd highly recommend a start to end trip, rather than jumping on half way through it's journey and you must travel on a car that takes you over a hill. There are a few to choose from but the views are brilliant if not stomach dropping as you roll over the tarmac hills. What's funny is that on the road in yellow paint there are instructions for the drivers, one says, "let go".

The drivers themselves I believe are some of the best comedians I've come across. They had witty one liners that tripped off their tongues to the inevitable daily repeated questions. The one way journey cost me about $5 and for that and the laughter I'd take the cable car again and again. But you can also travel by bus and the electronic trolley cars are a great way to travel. Mainly because the driver gives you a guided tour as you travel along and also warns you of pick pockets and that it's against the law not to give up your seat to the elderly. I'd like to see that one in the UK, wouldn't you?

The saddest thing though about SF before I go, was the endless homeless people I saw begging. It struck me that as I wind myself through London's busy streets on my motorbike or on a London bus I rarely get approached by an beggars. But in SF I was endlessly asked for money and my hotel warned me never to take a right turn out of the hotel but to always go left. But SF's homeless are a creative bunch and obviously feel that we'll want something in return for our donation. So just outside Fisherman's Wharf you'll find a green shrub that jumps out on you and as he puts it "gives you the biggest thrill you've had in a long time!" Whilst on the streets you'll find the guy with the sign, "verbal abuse received for a small fee!"

Every city you visit will have an negative side to it, and on the one hand I'm pleased that I found little to be negative about but I'm sad that what I did find involved people desperately looking for a focus, a direction and a home. I just thank them for keeping me entertained!

2009-11-11T02:24:00.000-08:00

Vegas is an amazing place. Our tour guide told us that they were cleaning up their act and now offered something for everyone. Families included. I have to say that whilst I saw families there and young children being dragged along Las Vegas Boulevard into the late evening, it's not a place I would return to or ever take young children.

The neon lights and dark sky hide what is essentially a filthy city where men and women stand on the streets wearing tea shirts that proudly proclaim that they can get you girls in 20 minutes. And just in case you didn't notice them they flick cigarette cards at you (regardless of your gender) which end up strewn across the streets, sometimes soaking up the alcohol and vomit.

Street cleaning isn't a popular occupation in Las Vegas but goodness knows it should be. Street drinking, smoking, vomiting and even sexual acts leave Las Vegas Boulevard awash with sticky empty glasses, butt ends, vomit and unremarkably I guess, no condoms. Having seen a drunk couple trying to have sex on the street at 8 am in the morning I guess safe sex wasn't front of mind!

They say Brits abroad have a bad reputation but Americans in Vegas (especially those businessmen on conventions) outshine the Brits in almost every department. It seems the phrase, "what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas", was coined to give people a freedom pass to do whatever they can in as short a time as possible without a guilty conscience.

Las vegas, like the rest of the US, is fueled by all you can eat for $19.99 but in Las Vegas you get free drinks when you are betting at a table. Minimum bets start at $2 each in most of the main casinos but on average were about $10. It quickly goes on a few turns of the roulette wheel. If you don't want betting with your alcohol you can buy a 64 fl oz glass of Margarita and carry it around with you all night. That's if it lasts that long! Strangely though for the US, and most other countries, you can smoke anywhere you want in Las Vegas, so for the first time in years my hair and clothes smelt of stale tobacco whilst my eyes smarted at the haze around the poker tables.

The main strip is 6 miles long and I walked all of them. My hotel receptionist was horrified that I was walking and suggested I take the bus for which you can get a $7 all day pass. Our guide said the strip was safe to walk along but I felt anything but safe and saw few police officers other than squad cars pulling over drivers for traffic offences. People revealing their most private parts of their anatomy for passers by to take photos didn't seem to attract any blue lights.

This is Sin City. But the vastness of this Sin City really shocks you. People say you either love it or hate it. It's that Marmite thing. I know people who go back year after year and yet strangely I've met more people who dislike it as much as I do. It seems you just have to try it and make your own mind up. If you are a gambler then it's heaven. And the big shows look fabulous although I didn't have time to see any and if I did ever return it would be to do that. I highly recommend the fountain displays at the Bellagio which were just beautiful as the water danced to some awe inspiring music. The shopping is great too with all the top US chains and there doesn't seem to be anything you can't find.

But the ultimate aim of this city is to get you into the casinos and keep you there. Whilst on the outside the casinos are a marvel of modern engineering and architecture, once inside all the casinos looked the same and I had no idea which one I was in. And getting out is difficult! I had heard that there were no clocks so you had no idea what time it was, but there are also no windows. Was it day or was it night? Added to this there are no clear signs on to how to exit the place unless in an emergency. My friends and I became frequently disorientated and we would have cherished a map!

As I said it's Marmite City and people do return year after year, mainly to gamble or to catch a show. But if Las Vegas is on your list of places to visit then remember this. At either end of the Boulevard there are lots of pawn shops and they looked very well used. Las Vegas is Sin City where reality takes a check until your credit card bill arrives. You can be as sinful as you like here, but even in the land of the free, someone has to pay.