Accounts in Review – First Quarter 2015

1st Quarter Review Activity Appears to be Down From Prior Year Levels
The 4A’s Accounts in Review report provides some indication that there is declining trend in first quarter review activity.

The 4A’s report indicates a lower level of review activity in the first quarter 2015 than there was in both 2014 and in 2013.

First quarter:	2013	2014	% chg	2015	% chg
Accounts in Review	252	190	-24%	144	-24%
Consultant Reviews	61	52	-15%	44	-15%
Direct Reviews (No Consultant)	191	138	-28%	100	-28%
Winners	142	108	-24%	63	-42%
% total	56%	57%		44%

 

Is there truly a trend toward lower levels of reviews…or… is there a timing shift of when reviews are conducted and concluded…or maybe… there are lower levels of national press reporting on agency review activities?

When we look at “full year” 4A’s Accounts in Review reports for 2013 and 2014 the levels of activity in recent years seems comparable.

Full Year:	2013	2014	% chg	2015	% chg
Accounts in Review	660	618	-6%
Consultant Reviews	170	175	+3%
Direct Reviews (No Consultant)	490	443	-10%
Winners	580	510	-12%
% total	88%	83%

 

It will be interesting to monitor review activity over the remainder of 2015 to see what accounts in review trends emerge.

Interpretation and Use of 4A’s Accounts in Review Information
The purpose of the 4A’s Accounts in Review report is to provide sample information on the types of reviews that are being conducted and to gather information on search consultant led review activities. The 4A’s Accounts in Review information is not intended to be a definitive quantitative study. The reports are based on published publicly available review information which skews toward large reviews since large reviews are the reviews that are published in the trade press. Furthermore the ad hoc methodology and somewhat limited trade press sources used to collect the information makes it likely that project reviews and specialist reviews, which have been expanding, are not routinely captured in the association’s Accounts in Review reports because projects & specialist reviews are not generally reported in national media sources.