A book of good practices and standards for the marketing industry – already created.

On the 24^th of November 2017, organizations taking part in the Dialogue of Industry Advertisers and Agencies  approved a document, The White Book for the Marketing Communications Industry recommending new standards and good practices for the Communication Market in Poland. Representatives from eight organizations: the Association of Marketing Communications (SAR), Polish Supply Management Leaders (PSML),  the Internet Industry Employers’ Association in Poland (IAB) , the Association of Public Relations Firms (ZFPR), the International Association of Advertisers of Poland (IAA), the Event Agencies Club (KAE-SAR), Incentive Travel Organizers Association (SOIT), and the Event Industry Association (SBE) uderwrote the document.

The aim of introducing the White Book for the Marketing Communications Industry is the facilitation of the procurement and tender process for the production of marketing and communication services. The document introduces common practices for all signatories in the area marketing communication service sales. The White Book is dedicated to purchasing and marketing departments, which organize advertising tenders, as well as agencies. Recommendations included in the Book concern eight types of services: full service, digital, public relations, event, media purchase, brand design, TV production and incentive travel.

The chapters include many crucial issues for effective tender processes, including costs and results. Some of the issues raised concern: information inquiries RFI, confidential agreements NDA, inquiries for RFP resolution, inquiries for RFQ offers, tender briefs, team evaluations, tender evaluation criteria, costs and fees for tender participation, payment time lines and interest costs.

The section concerning the application bilateral confidentiality obligations deserves special attention.   According to the White Book, NDA contracts favoring only one side should only be applied in exceptional circumstances, when objectively risk for one of the parties doesn’t exist.  Further, it’s recommended that penalties associated with confidentiality agreements shouldn’t exceed the value of the potential cooperation.

Copyright protection during the tender process is also important. It’s in the interest of the agency to mark in the offer and all documents presented in the tender, which elements are covered by copyright.

In terms of contracts at the tender stage, it’s recommended that clients not enforce the provisions of the contract as a condition for the further participation of the agency in the proceedings, as well as prevent the formation of contractual provisions by both parties.

Recommendations in the book are intended to change the method of conducting tender procedures in order to control costs and creative work by agencies aspiring orders.  The basic change proposed in the book is a strong tender stage.  So far, despite multiple stages of proceedings, after credential presentation, everyone was doing everything. […] We want agencies to focus on presenting proposals that do not include creative work after the presentation of credentials and the RFI stage to follow the next stage of the tender.  It should be a clash of ideas with the client’s expectations.  Only in the next stage, when two or three agencies are left, the client can ask the agency to propose the creative. […] We want to convince the market that clients should not expect anything from the agency from the very beginning, “Paweł Tyszkiewicz, board representative of SAR, quoted from an interview in Wirtualne Mediów.

So far, chapters related to general standards and good practices in marketing procurement, as well as guidelines and recommendations in PR and event areas are published. They also include model insruments and tender documents prepared by both sides (agency and clients). The next chapters will be published by the end of March 2018.

More information you can find HERE.