We have all heard about or read about tenders, and there has been much debate about their effectiveness or the transfer of this model to the contracting of services in the private industry.

For better or worse we have adopted in the industry a scheme called “Pitch” which is nothing more than a process of selecting digital agencies through an evaluation cycle previously established by the advertiser or client.

This selection or pitch process can be made up of several stages depending on the client, but it is generally based on two moments: the first, the RFI (or request for information) which is basically about calling several agencies (ideally, some 5) and evaluate what they do, what experience they have, their credentials, their certifications, verifiable success stories, among other factors.

After this pre-selection process, we move on to the second stage called RFP (or request for proposal), which is based on a specific case of quote or creative proposal for the client. Without a doubt, when you reach this part of the process, you should have already selected at least 3 agencies and be very clear about what the client is going to quote.

IAB México considers that for the agency selection processes three basic principles should be considered by the advertiser:

Transparency: That is, they are clear with the budget and the information is complete (if necessary, a legal confidentiality agreement known as NDA can be signed).

Commitment: That the client or advertiser has the conviction to finish the complete process and assign the project to a digital agency.

Clarity in selection criteria: That the client be very clear in the aspects when evaluating the agencies, they can even assign percentages, for example creativity 30%, strategy 30%, price 20%, service level 20 percent.

It is important to mention that in addition to equal conditions to participate and evaluate the agencies, the advertiser must try to compare agencies under similar conditions and that have real experience on the project to be quoted, for example web development, digital performance, metrics, social media or similar.

Remember, the intellectual property of the ideas, strategies, proposals (digital or offline) belongs to the agency as long as its services are not contracted.

If you have an agency selection process, we highly recommend that you review the material that IAB Méxicohas at your disposal to choose a digital agency.