• by Larissa Faw , April 19, 2017

While advertisers have improved their briefing process, agencies say there is much work to be done to address a lack of alignment, clarity and timing, according to The World Federation of Advertisers (WFA).

Three in four clients (73%) said they include a single-minded proposition and a single view of the customer in their briefs, yet this message is contrasted with 76% of agencies who say advertisers "never/sometimes" include these elements in their pitches. A mere 12% of brands say they now provide separate briefs for each department/agency, down from 24% in 2014.

Agencies were even more scathing about the lack of a clear integrated customer journey (93% said sometimes/never) or a single view of the customer and a common insight (82% said sometimes/never).

More than seven in 10 clients (71%) believe they brief all departments/agencies "at the same time," yet only 24% of their agency counterparts agree that this is happening "often or always." Rather, agencies highlight the sporadic nature of this approach, with 67% of agencies saying that they are "sometimes" briefed at the same time as other agencies, while 9% say this "never" happens.

There is also a time crunch. Nearly 80% of clients believe they "always or mostly" brief well in advance, compared to 57% of agencies who say they are usually briefed later than they should be.

Nearly half of agencies (46%) believe they are very regularly "right first time" in responding to briefs, just 36% of clients would agree. In fact, only 7% of clients say agencies are “rarely right first time."

This extra work is typically absorbed by agencies. It is relatively rare that agencies (12% according to agencies, 18% according to clients) will charge additional fees for reworking responses to briefs, even if poor briefing by the client is acknowledged. When the brief is clearly changed by the client, both agencies (51%) and clients (44%) agree that there is often an additional charge.

The details included in these briefs have altered over the past few years. There are now more metrics: 100% of clients say they now include business KPIs, 96% include marketing metrics, 64% include behavioral changing KPIs. More insight is being included from a variety of sources but, most notably, local markets.

There are also more people involved in the process, with clients saying more external consultancies are being used (88% versus 47% in 2014) as well as more local marketers (65% versus 48% in 2014).

Face-to-face briefing is on the rise, reaching 93% -- up from 85% in 2014. Briefing by email has more than doubled, but has declined in telephone communications. Anecdotally, the report finds that email is typically used when the brief is more tactical in nature. Online meetings and workshops remain in steady use.

“It would seem global brands are making progress in improving their integrated briefing process," stated Robert Dreblow, global head of marketing services, WFA. "Ultimately integration doesn’t come down to agencies or brands, it comes down to people. Strong client leadership coupled with agency collaboration is what’s needed to ensure consistency and improvement in applying these processes."

The results are based on feedback from 32 advertisers spending a total of $14 billion on advertising annually as well as 46 senior agency staff in global/regional roles. It has been conducted in partnership with global marketing consultancy The Observatory International and was last done in 2014.