Flock Associates

Marketing procurement is a strategic art, not merely a scientific process - Matt Kelly, Adidas This year's ProcureCon US was packed full of insights and golden nuggets - head over to our blog to read a summary! https://lnkd.in/gDSwXvpt #marketingprocurement #marketing #procurecon

Always a pleasure to support Ocado Retail and a huge congratulations to Uncommon Creative Studio, excited to see this partnership come to life! https://lnkd.in/ek5JiCjp #pitch #agencypitch

Flock Associates - Leading Marketing Change. Over the last few months we’ve been busy working on our new brand identity. We wanted our branding to be fresh, streamlined and dynamic, whilst also highlighting our Flockers at the centre of what we do. So, enjoy browsing our brand new website and keep an eye out for our content to come: https://lnkd.in/egAEVnn Whilst it may not be a Jaguar level rebrand, it has been a labour of love within the team and we hope you enjoy it as much as we do! The Flock 🐦 #Marketing #MarketingTransformation #MarketingConsultancy #Rebrand #Branding

Are you new to marketing procurement? Or just want to benefit from the insights of a consultant? Our procurement experts are here to support you with the tips and strategies you need to: 🌟 Demonstrate value 🌟 Manage stakeholder expectations 🌟 Establish data drive decision making We’re offering free 30 minute sessions with members of the marketing procurement community. If you’d like to take advantage, fill out our contact form here; https://lnkd.in/etX3Zrrc   #marketingprocurement #marketing #marketingconsultancy #procurement 

We've just spent the last two days at ProcureCon Marketing Connect. Here's a roundup of what has been a great couple of days, with lots of interesting conversations and connections made. ➡️ There is a clear trend on more conversations on asset based pricing, and more remuneration schemes. ➡️ Lots more chat on AI, (75% of advertisers have or are working on an internal AI policy, according to ISBA. But there are still very few “how to…” AI cases. ➡️ Surprisingly little on the big spend areas of media, events and exhibitions etc. It was interesting to see new exhibitors with an AI tech focus engaging with marketing procurement. ➡️ Also, as the stakeholder map gets more complex for procurement to navigate it was interesting to hear about the softer skills that marketing procurement teams need more and more. ➡️ We were also interested to see how some marketing procurement teams that used to be big have been scaled down, and other smaller teams are now scaling up, it’s certainly dynamic! It was clear that marketing teams are now buying as much technology as they are agencies, but are not as confident and maybe the processes to buy, are not as clear. ➡️ DEI and Sustainability is still very much on the agenda, which is heartening, but an acknowledgment that it’s not getting as much C-level attention as it once has. ➡️ We were struck again that it is a shame some more marketers, agencies and tech don’t come and speak and learn. The marketing procurement teams are a key part of success for both, and both marketers and agencies alike could do with understanding the community far better! ➡️ We had a roundtable of 24 about “Maximising Agency Value” with some great observations from participants about how inspire the best talent at agencies, how to make incentivisation personal, and how to work with marketing to get the best briefs and processes etc. Some of our insights are shared in our Marketing Procurement Trends and Insights report (link in the comments). Congrats to ProcureCon Europe Series and all involved for a good and fun event. Cormac Loughran Simon Francis #marketingprocurement #procurement #cmo #marketing #PCMConnect #marketingconsultancy #marketingevent

Come and find us today and tomorrow at ProcureCon Europe Series Marketing Connect! Drop Cormac Loughran and Simon Francis a DM if you'd like to attend our roundtable later today.

Our marketing procurement roundtable is tomorrow 👋 How do you drive value in marketing procurement? What are the most efficient approaches to performance, price, people and product? Join our roundtable we are hosting at this year's ProcureCon Europe Series Marketing Connect on the 3-4 December. Hosted by Simon Francis and Cormac Loughran. 📍 3rd December, 5:30pm, Sopwell House St Albans. 👤 Simon Francis 👤 Cormac Loughran You can request an invite to ProcureCon here: https://lnkd.in/eDiAwDyF Drop us a DM / email [email protected] if you'd like to attend our roundtable - we'd love to see you there! #MarketingProcurement #Marketing #ProcureCon #MarketingEvent #MarketingConsultancy

Have you read our latest marketing procurement trends and insights report yet? 📖 We are beyond excited to share 'The Great Balancing Act', the first edition of our annual marketing procurement trends report. We aim for this report to serve as both an inspirational resource and a practical guide for the marketing procurement community. It highlights the 'balancing act' that marketing procurement teams strike between driving growth and savings. See exclusive data and the latest trends on benchmark rates, overheads, mark-ups, bonuses, the impact of AI on costs and value and agency performance, leveraging data from our Agency Scoping Tool and Agency Appraisal Tool. To get access to the report follow this link: https://lnkd.in/e-hDTp2w *Modelled by our lovely Flockers* We ask that only brand advertisers sign up to view our report on this occasion. We appreciate your understanding. 🙏

Insightful read from Nick Manning via The Media Leader UK. Lovely to hear our recent procurement insights report and the 'bionic agency ecosystem' concept referenced; "The report predicts the rise of a “bionic agency ecosystem” where talent and technology converge, supported in the creator economy by virtual and in-house specialists." Thank you Nick! #Media #MediaAgencies #Marketing #Creativity #MarketingTalent

People sometimes ask why is Flock called Flock? We are a named after a murmuration of Starlings symbolizing the  work we do and how we do it. The beautifully orchestrated dynamic flock represents the marketing that we believe our clients need, and we aim to help them build. The murmuration also reflects our agile tight-knit team, giving lift and support to one another, and evolving to external and internal feedback. Both the “what” and the “how” of Flock have been evident over the past few months prompting me to reflect on what the team has achieved. We’ve had to dig really deep as we are delivering three times as much work this month as a “normal” month (and we are continuing to grow significantly month on month, year on year). It has seen us draw upon the inspiration of the flock and our values to continue to deliver exceptional work. Some of our work has been to: Building five new large global agency ecosystems (four of the advertisers are in the top 50 advertisers in the world), Creating new marketing processes, a new remuneration model and a marketing operations function for one of these Establishing a new multi-market inhouse agency for a global beverage company Finding eight new agencies for advertisers Conducting a large global media review and two creative reviews Conducting a content production and technology review with three RFP’s Running a sponsorship review and creating new governance processes, Providing a financial services company customer experience frameworks and processes Transitioning a large scale CRM agency relationship Creating learning & development programs for a leading CPG Implementing a test and learn program for a US entertainment company Benchmarking agency fees for autos, entertainment, & CPG’s Conducting numerous of agency appraisals to help evolve the relationship and allocate performance related pay But, it’s not just the client work that has been keeping us busy. We have: Welcomed four new Flockers and one returnee, and continue to recruit Released the upgraded Flock Agency Scoping Tool with new asset based pricing functionality Piloted the Flock Media Health Check Tool Created great content in the “Great Balancing Act: Procurement Trends and Data” our new annual review of what’s what in marketing procurement Attended or will attend ANA Masters of Marketing, Procurecon USA, and Procurecon Connect UK Completed our internal training courses and freelancer review And been busy building Flock finance 2.0, including plans for the next phase of our growth I do these notes for myself, and the team at Flock Associates , as much as for others interested in the Flock. It’s great to see what a well organised tech enabled flock can achieve. And, when it’s tough (and it will be full on until holidays!) it’s a good reminder to the team of how much we can get through, fast and without drama. Much like a Flock of starlings. #marketingtransformation #marketingoperations #marketingprocurement