One of the most important decisions at the time of throwing an advertizing campaign is the election of the agency. And not because they exist better or worse, that they are, but because there exist agencies more adapted for a certain advertiser, for a certain company or for a certain product or service.

For it, the Spanish Association of Advertisers (AEA) and the Spanish Association of Advertizing agencies (AEAP) have prepared a document that serves as reference in the relations between advertisers and agencies. According to the said document, any selection process must fulfill the following basic norms:

• Equity. It is a question of all the agencies having the same opportunities without contribution of information privileged to any of them.
• Confidentiality. So that the advertiser can offer information about his company to all the agencies, knowing that these promise to respect the confidentiality.
• Commitment. The target of the election is to establish a relation to way / long term, what undoubtedly will reverberate positively in the work.
• Intellectual property. The agencies that do not gain the contest or are not selected will be able to negotiate with the client the use of someone or some of the contributed ideas previous payment.
• Recognition. The work realized by the agencies that are not selected must be remunerated somehow. The current tendency on the contests establishes remunerating all the agencies that in the final phase present campaign.

At the time of choosing an advertizing agency, the Home companies that operate in Spain consider to be so important the credentials of creativity and talent of the signatures as his transparence in his remuneration system. Other of the criteria that are valued to select the agency they are: experience, level of the professionals, previous relations, international network, size of the agency and the awards that it has had.

5.1. Steps for a correct selection

A good agency selection must go accompanied by three stages:

• Definition of the profile of the agency. To define the agency profile will allow us to do the first selection between those agencies that more are adapted to the needs of the client. Therefore, it will be necessary to bear in mind such aspects like the geographical needs, the size and structure, the experience, the languages, the specialization, etc.
• Sector analysis. This seeding, which we can carry out for ourselves or across the services of a specializing consultancy, is going to allow to obtain to us the maximum information about the different agencies later to prepare a called long list (not more than 15) in which those go to include of the market that cover the needs and answer to the wished profile. Next, we will proceed to the achievement of a qualitative analysis in which we will try to obtain the biggest possible information about the works of the agency, his teams, his successes, his clients, etc., what we are going to allow to limit the list to only three agencies.
• Selection. Once we have the short list, three possibilities exist at the time of carrying out the selection:

– Direct election. It takes place when with the previous analysis we have had left very clear what our agency must be.

– Personalized presentations. These personalized presentations are going to allow to value to us elements of personal relation (size, number of personnel, offices, managing team, accounts gained and lost in the last years, services that there offers, linked companies, team that they will put at our disposal, finished list of clients and you mark for those who work, etc.); elements that although they must not be essential, yes have a certain importance. Next, we will be able to choose the agency that more we are interested in, or summon to contest the most related to our interests.

– The contest. Any more than three or four must never be the agencies presented to contest, which debit to be strategic, creative or both. To carry out a contest demands the following aspects:  

- To prepare a clear briefing.

- To report on the taking part agencies. Number of agencies and if the process includes the current agency.

- To define the levels of finished. To clarify the level of finished that it is waited in the campaigns.

- To communicate the decision criteria. In the briefing it must remain clear if the final decision is going to depend on the ideas, the creativity, the services...

- To specify the required services.

- To report on the economic information. Model of remuneration and type of contract.

- To establish a realistic calendar. The agency has to be provided with sufficient time to prepare the presentation.

- To assign the key teams. The teams that take part in the contest must be those who in the future will collaborate in the development of the account.

- To define a speaker and to give access equality. To establish an evaluation system.

- To assign time to the presentations. The normal thing is usually between two and three hours.

- To concentrate the presentations. It is a question of avoiding the order of presentation of the different agencies, presentation that is preferable is celebrated in each of the agencies.

- To identify the assistants.

- To decide with rapidity, maximum one week, and to inform about the decision all the agencies the same day. To express next a press release.

- To return the materials, to respect the intellectual property and the confidentiality.

 

The real thing and the false thing in the process of selection of agency
False	Real
All the more ideas have on the table, better.	The massive contest distracts the agencies of his habitual work, and makes to lower the level of general quality of the publicity.
The bigger is the agency, the better.	The size of an agency does not guarantee his adequacy to an account.
Before a problem, the best thing is to change agency.	Often it turns out to be more advisable to re-lead the relation with the agency than to look for a piece of news. The relation advertiser - agency must have stability to obtain better results.
The agency demonstrates his capacity with ideas.	The speculative creativity, the not requested ideas and that do not abide by a briefing do not demonstrate anything good of the agency and devaluate the profession.
I want it for two days.	The process of selection of agency is too important to be urgent. It must be a reasoned and thought-out action. If the calendar drowns, it will be preferable to raise a delay in the actions before choosing agency of hasty form.