Commentary

Agency Search Firm to Use Algorithm to Pair Brands With Agencies For On-Demand Project Work

You know the whole search firm scenario, right? A bunch of back slapping coupled with a slew of tightly controlled, soul-crushing meetings that waste hundreds of billable hours for a ten percent chance at winning an account, Right? 

Well, this might streamline things a bit. A new startup, Globality, has launched and will apply an algorithmic -- because everything's algorithmic these days -- approach to teaming a brand with an agency. For now, the focus is on connecting brands with small and midsize agencies. Participating agency head count is capped at 500. 

Heading up Globality is former Current TV CEO Joel Hyatt. The Silicon Valley-based startup has raised $37.5 million to fund operations and 75 full-time employees...which seems an absurdly high amount for a service that is supposed to run on an algorithm. 

Globality, which has invited and vetted 350 agencies into its system, will support search for projects valued at $100,000 or higher. The process involves a brand answering a series of questions, the answers to each prompting a different, more specific track of questions until the process is complete. Globality employees do step in at the end of the selection process to aid in the final decision. 

advertisement

advertisement

The gist of the effort is to properly pair brands with specific needs with agencies with specific skill sets rather than relying on the more traditional agency-of-record arrangement whereby one agency, regardless of skill set, handles everything for one brand. 

Globality will charge agencies a 15% fee of the total project budget. It will immediately collect this fee through a process that requires the brand to place funds for the entire project into an escrow account. No screwing around with 30-, 60-, 90-day crap. 

Globality is just beginning with ad agencies. It plans to expand into other verticals such as legal, energy and environmental services firms.

 

 

2 comments about "Agency Search Firm to Use Algorithm to Pair Brands With Agencies For On-Demand Project Work".
Check to receive email when comments are posted.
  1. George Parker from Parker Consultants, January 12, 2017 at 8:40 a.m.

    Further proof that the Ad Biz is totally screwed.
    George "AdScam" Parker

  2. Ed Papazian from Media Dynamics Inc, January 12, 2017 at 9:27 a.m.

    Sounds like one of those online dating services that uses a coputer to match people up based on information they supplied about themselves---almost a card sorting process, perhaps. As fo 75 employees with funding of $37 million, that does, indeed, seem a rather fat payroll---if it is true. Or, maybe, most of the "employees" are free lancers?

Next story loading loading..