Breakfast with Procurement

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

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

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!

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.