Current TV Sends Agency RFP By Twitter
Current TV — Al Gore’s low-profile, user-generated cable news network — sent out an agency RFP by Twitter and the responses revealed all the usual anxieties and naivety of the client-agency-review consultant three-way when it comes to choosing a new shop.
Adweek’s Brian Morrissey has a nice story on it here.
After Jordan Kretchmer, brand vp at Current, sent out his tweet he was inundated. Here’s a sample of who sent what:
One to One Interactive included a brief video clip via 12seconds, a social broadcast tool, and 22squared went one further by hosting a live brainstorming session last Monday on Ustream. Colle+McVoy in Minneapolis bombarded Kretchmer with Twitter messages from employees and supporters. Perhaps the most extreme measure came from Creature, which dispatched a staffer to stand outside Kretchmer’s office with a sign directing him to an agency pitch Web site.
The effect on the client was predictable:
“I was a little overwhelmed in a bad way by some of the agencies’ responses.”
You can read more about lame agency responses to the RFP here.
Naturally, consultants hate the idea. It robs them of work, after all. Ken Robinson, a principal at Ark Advisors said:
“Choosing an agency is serious business,” he said. “It has serious implications within an organization, and typically is one of the largest line items in an agency’s budget. That’s why the process is done in a particular best-practice way. Having fun isn’t usually the end goal of the process.”
Here’s where Morrissey misses the point somewhat. The main purpose of a review consultant is to make sure that the client doesn’t get ripped off by agencies who want to overbill. That’s why consultant-based RFPs have all those annoying questions about money and staffing and expenses and pass-through, etc.
And that’s why TBWA/Chiat/Day’s Rob Schwartz really liked Current’s review:
“There’s no consultant and no bullshit,” said Rob Schwartz, chief creative officer at the shop of the TwitteRFP. “When you deal with consultants, it’s another layer. A lot of these consultants aren’t qualified to judge who the right agency is.”
Translation: Plus, the client won’t be asking too many difficult questions about how we’re going to make our profits with your money.
Finalists for the tiny account include:
- Wexley School for Girls
- TBWA\Chiat\Day,
- Stick and Move
- Partners + Napier.
Jim Edwards, a former managing editor of Adweek, has covered drug marketing at Brandweek for four years, and is a former Knight-Bagehot fellow at Columbia University's business and journalism schools. Follow him on Twitter or send him an email.
BNET User Analysis