Flock Associates had the opportunity to sponsor and attend ProcureCon US Marketing 2022 this month at Palm Springs. For those not familiar with ProcureCon Marketing US it is a conference solely dedicated to the unique challenges of marketing procurement and the sourcing of marketing services.
It is an incredibly valuable event for the industry to meet, share the latest best practice and look to the future. We hosted our roundtable session on the latest agency remuneration models and incentive plans with every spot filled with delegates sharing some of the new inventive solutions companies are building right now. If you would like details, please fill in the contact form below and we will be happy to take you through the presentation. From our many meetings and conversations with leading marketing procurement experts, we were able to decipher 5 key topic areas that are important to know for 2023.
1.Stakeholder Relationships
We were surprised to see so many new faces at the conference and many of whom were new to marketing procurement or procurement as a discipline. This explains why there was so much conversation around “how to manage marketing stakeholders”. This area will always be of great importance and should be a would be a high priority for all marketers. However, there is already so much guidance material to help, that these issues can be quickly and easily solved to allow more evolved topic areas to be addressed. Ultimately, the plan should be to listen, understand, educate on benefits top marketing, align on initiatives, define shared goals, agree roles & Responsibilities, and speak with one voice to partners.
2. Value Over Price
It was heartening to hear that many delegates had heard of the World Federation of Advertisers’ Project Spring Project Spring – World Federation of Advertisers (wfanet.org) and some were actively following a path to drive value, and growth in their organization. This motivation is great and will hopefully push towards the necessary level of work to achieve the optimal outcome. Many indirect and marketing procurement teams must educate their leadership on some of the benefits of driving value in, not just cost out. For those who have transferred from direct sourcing, help will be required to navigate a course to value and growth.
3. Enable DE&I (Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion)
We were super pleased that DEI was so high on the agenda. There is no reason why companies should not drive supplier diversity and inclusion with their suppliers to achieve diversity, equality, and inclusion goals. DE&I is a critical and evolving topic, where its presence within the overall industry is growing and becoming more and more vital. It may be hard to trust a new partner but give them the opportunity to showcase their abilities by starting small and building trust and confidence. If there’s no actual ‘business’ that you can provide diverse owned suppliers, offer your services regarding education, internships, placements, mentorship.
4. Sustainability
There was some talk about sustainability by more advanced marketing procurement teams but compared to those in Europe, it was noticeably a secondary topic. Whilst the world meets in Egypt for COP 27 to try and tackle a host of sustainability issues, climate change made little appearance on the agenda. One can only hope that marketing procurement teams get ahead of the game and push their suppliers to find sustainable solutions, baking them into ways of working, contracts, reporting, bonus schemes etc. It is also hoped that conference organizers and venue providers will seek to lower their carbon footprint and provide delegates with the opportunity to be sustainable when attending the event.
5. Communication is KEY
There were some interesting conversations about the value of naming conventions (agency, vendors, partner, supplier etc.) and the corporate positioning of the marketing procurement function. Our takeaway is that having a crystal-clear alignment and positioning of the function of marketing procurement is important and being transparent on your policies and values with regards agencies allows agencies to make their mind up on how they engage with you. Ambiguity, or non-alignment with marketing will always be a recipe for disaster.
We were grateful to be in a room full of thought leaders and amazing brands. There is nothing more that excites us then helping marketers and marketing procurement teams be more effective and efficient. So let us know if you would like any more details about the event, or the topics mentioned by filling in the form below