Lawrence & Schiller, the gargantuan (by South Dakota standards) Sioux Falls advertising agency was awarded a $7 million plus annual contract to handle South Dakota Tourism's advertising, marketing and promotion.
Check out the Rapid City Journal here and War College's report here.
L&S is a good advertising agency. There has been a lot of howling about the fact that L&S handled Gov. Rounds' campaigns, and that they have for years received the tourism account through n0 bid contracts. Okay. I don't believe in no bid contracts. But this time L&S submitted a proposal along with others. (Read the Journal account linked above.)
A comment on War College suggests that our own Bill Fleming could do as well as L&S for less money. The Journal reports that local agency Robert Sharp & Associates didn't spend the resources to win the bid. And, I submit that given the resources, I could do as well as L&S. The problem? I don't have the resources. L&S does.
I don't know what resources Bill has, but I don't see him gambling the same $100K to put together a proposal that L&S claims they did.
Is it fair? I'm not all torn up about it. Could some other agency do as well for less? We won't know, but my thought is that the answer is yes. Did L&S win the contract on the merits of their past performance and their proposal? Probably.
None of us will be privy to the proposals presented by the losing bidders. Everyone I know in the advertising industry would likely handle the account differently than L&S. Everyone I know would likely redesign the Yellow Pages, if they had the chance. That doesn't mean the end product would be better than what we have.
Is it possible that the request for proposal (RFP) was written in such a manner that only L&S had the resources to devote $100K to buy the contract? It kind of looks that way. In the final analysis, will L&S do a credible job? I bet yes.
If my agency had handled the governor's campaign, and I had friends and relatives of the governor working for me, critics would be correct for lambasting a decision to hand me the tourism contract because I don't have the resources to do the account justice. L&S does.
What says Bill? What say the rest of you?
10 comments:
No one else had a chance... which is why RSharp didn't bother to spend the bucks.
I do believe we could have had twice as much info put out to the world had we hired someone just a bit less profitable and a bit less well-connected (evidenced by the fact that other SD business advertisers that do this on a tight budget and still manage to have as much visibility as the big-bucks players).
The state should have separated tv commercials from print & internet, putting 2 SD companies in the black, not just one. We just seem to love a highly profitable monopoly.
There are plenty of companies that could have spent the money to pitch that business and chose not to. Bottom line, as anyone really in the game will tell you, it's all about the relationship, not necessarily the work product. These days, everybody has access to the same tools and people who know how to use them whether it be research, creative, media buying, networking, whatever. But there is simply no amount of cash you can spend to win someone's trust. That has to be earned over time, and L&S has paid their dues in that regard. I say good for them. They work their butts off for their clients. (p.s. Anon, if you split up the account you might get multiple SD brands -i.e. Mike's picture of what's cool about SD might be totally different than mine. $7 million annual national is barely enough to support one coherently integrated brand the way it is.)
"if you split up the account you might get multiple SD brands " -- oh good grief, it's called a CONTRACT. If it's well written, well supervised and well enforced there is ONLY one brand. If it's not well written- fire the lawyer; if it's not well supervised - fire the supervisor or breach it; if it's not well enforced - enforce it or find folks who will.
"there is simply no amount of cash you can spend to win someone's trust." -- oh good grief; in god we trust; all others will be under contract. Do the words, trust - but verify, ring a bell?
This "award" is the same political pandering in sheep's clothing.
Sorry, Anon...
I have to agree with Bill. It is crucial, with such a small advertising budget, that the message, creative and production be integrated. I don't think this contract can be split with different agencies handling different media.
You could, I suppose, contract with one agency for creative and production, and with a different agency for placement. But, that would be duplicate effort, be counter productive and again risk continuity.
The agency that does the research to determine the most lucrative target market, and then creates the ads to reach that market, already knows where to place the ads, that happened in the research to identify the target.
The IHS Global Insight study is the most recent of several studies North Dakota utilizes that shows North Dakota Tourism is on the right track, according to Shane Goettle, commissioner of the North Dakota Department of Commerce. “The Tourism Division routinely conducts research to determine the effectiveness of our marketing strategies,” said Goettle. “These studies consistently show North Dakota’s tourism industry is growing. Our research-driven strategy is the core of our success.
These days, everybody has access to the same tools and people who know how to use them whether it be research, creative, media buying, networking, whatever. But there is simply no amount of cash you can spend to win someone's trust.
Crusie, you win the prize so far for being the person to comment on the oldest topic string. Nice to have you here. Come back often.
I do believe we could have had twice as much info put out to the world had we hired someone just a bit less profitable and a bit less well-connected (evidenced by the fact that other SD business advertisers that do this on a tight budget and still manage to have as much visibility as the big-bucks players
The state should have separated tv commercials from print & internet, putting 2 SD companies in the black, not just one. We just seem to love a highly profitable monopoly.
You could, I suppose, contract with one agency for creative and production, and with a different agency for placement. But, that would be duplicate effort, be counter productive and again risk continuity.
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