The state we reside in and work in has a rule for state-owned agencies that they must interview at least three companies if they are throwing their account out for review. They do not need to select the cheapest one, but they do have to have at least three participating companies bidding for the business.
We were told this upfront, and we were asked to pitch this account. The new Marketing Director had just moved to this area from the mid-west. We met this person early for breakfast one morning. We took a proposal along to give to her, and we tried to present who we were and why we could perform the work better than others she was interviewing. We asked who else was bidding. She told us about one other media buying service, whom she knew a great deal about and seemed very happy with, then asked us if we knew of a third media buying service she could interview to satisfy the state! We knew where we stood right away. In her mind, she had already chosen her new agency. We were there strictly to meet the state’s requirements.
The following week, we were asked for a formal proposal, which would have taken time and effort. We declined, telling the Marketing Director to use what we had given her at breakfast last week. This should have sufficed anyway as it was a detailed account of Media Buying Authorities, along with a list of past/present clients, references, and more. We were not about to put a great deal of work into a formal proposal when we already had a deep feeling where this account was going to go.
The account went where we thought it would go, even though that media buying service already had an account with a competing client. The conflict of interest was brought to the attention of the Marketing Director, who claimed the media buying service had already asked their competing client if they would mind if they took on a “like” account. Their current client said, “Sure. We don’t mind.”
It’s things like this that make life so unfair.