Procurement departments now rule the roost when negotiating agency fees. Their overarching objective is to decrease the agency fee and hence dictate the structure of the team on the project; they usually have no real understanding of what a marketing project entails and they are concentrating purely on outlay not on results.

The poor old marketing agency feels they have little choice but to reduce fees and cut the scope of work so as to remain profitable – and secure the work. However the work taken away from the agency still has to be carried out and 9 times out of ten these jobs are picked up by the company’s brand manager.

The in-house brand manager may have little or no experience of managing the different aspects of a complicated marketing project. One person in a company, or even a small team of in-house people, can’t possibly be expert in all the aspects including web build, sourcing, terms and conditions, legal contracts, print specification, consumer messaging etc. That’s why they need to get an agency in the first place.

Agencies on the other hand have years of experience managing all the elements of the marketing mix and would be able to control and add value to all the things that have had to be picked up by the brand manager.

So the brand manager struggles under the weight of the ‘new’ role; the project loses consistency, mistakes are made, quality is foregone and the whole campaign is compromised.

So it ends up as a lose/lose, when it could so easily, for a few extra quid, have been a huge win/win for everyone. What a damn shame.

The post The pitfalls of procurement appeared first on Debbie Simmons.

Rolex has achieved mythical status. It has never produced a mass-market watch. It has resisted the temptation to become attainable. It has always held to its core brand values of luxury and high quality. This dedication to exclusivity has made it a household name – even though most of us will only ever be able to admire it from afar.

Rolex is a clever brand – one that has worked hard to achieve its place at the very top. It controls all of the production process in-house. Every essential part of its watches from the movements and dials to the watch straps are manufactured by Rolex at its Swiss production facility. This alone gives them the edge over many of their competitors. They can assure quality at every stage. But quality is not enough to make it a superbrand. Promotion and marketing has done that for Rolex.

Right from its early days, Rolex became involved with sports promotion and sponsorship. They have links to high-profile sporting events including The Open golf tournament, Wimbledon, the Australian Open, The Ryder Cup, Le Mans 24 hour race and the Sydney Hobart Yacht Race. They even invented The Grand Slam of Eventing equestrian event which includes Kentucky, Badminton and Burghley. This year Rolex will be the official timekeeper for the F1 Grand Prix series – a move which will take their brand across the globe. They are also the title sponsor for the first race: ‘Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix’ in mid-March 2013.

In addition Rolex have carefully created an image of themselves as a brand for action men and woman. This action branding reinforces the idea that Rolex watches are durable, strong, tough under pressure and can be trusted to work in extreme situations. Ian Fleming chose Rolex for James Bond and Sean Connery wore a Rolex in the first Bond film, Dr No. More recently, James Cameron took a Rolex on his dive to the Deepest Place on Earth and a number of high-profile explorers wear Rolex watches. Add these to the famous sports men and women they sponsor – and the ones who just choose to wear them – and you have a brand worn by active, exciting, highly successful people.

Rolex might never touch your everyday life. You may never own one or even see one being worn by someone else. But you know their core values; you know what a Rolex means. Rolex have made sure through clever marketing that you know precisely what they stand for. And this is what makes Rolex a superbrand.

The post Superbrands: Rolex appeared first on Debbie Simmons.