MPF 2019 Managing & Optimizing PxP (Project by Project) Relationships
Neal Grossman | Chief Operating Officer, The Designory and eg+ Worldwide | Chief Compensation Officer, TBWA Worldwide
Marisa Lieberman | Vice President–Director of Project Management, McCann Health New Jersey (MHNJ)
Dave Lubeck | Executive Vice President, Executive Director, Bernstein-Rein Advertising / Unbound
Cathi Perkins | Business Optimization Manager, Butler/Till Media Services
The Unbound Model
Lubeck
Think of your agency as a consultancy. Push for client investment.
The Investment
- Basic discovery. Understand the client’s business.
- Initial in-person discussion. Conducted with account managers and strategists only.
- Draw the line. No more free consultation; proceed if aligned, and if the opportunity looks promising.
The Approach
- Consultants first. Going into a prospective assignment, we begin as consultants.
- Agency second. Only after the client has committed to a relationship with the agency.
Where There’s Challenge…There’s Opportunity
Grossman
Project assignments are part of your agency’s financial portfolio.
Pricing must be based on value, not on cost.
Pricing
- Activity/deliverable-based pricing. PxP assignments provide the opportunity to be paid on value rather than on time and costs.
- Fixed fees for discovery and onboarding.
- All efforts/costs are billable. Make sure you are compensated for everything, including up-front planning, rushes, and excessive rounds of creative.
- Maximizing overall profit. Focus on the services and talent that produce the highest margins.
Scoping
- Fewer changes and modifications on PxP assignments. The work is known upfront and typically requires less significant change than scopes planned under an AOR- or campaign-based arrangement.
Contracts
- Greater ability to require favorable contract terms. These may include more favorable terms on payment, limitation on liability, non-compete provisions, and billable vs. non-billable costs, than under an AOR- or campaign-based arrangement.
- Use short-form contracts.
Staffing
- Harder to manage. Greater reliability on freelance.
- Resourcing needs to be faster and more agile.
- Account staff need to be hunters.
Developing a More Agency-Centric, Holistic Approach to Managing PxP
Perkins
Service PxP assignments by using project management methodologies and developing an agency-centric approach on one platform.
Related tools include:
- project charters
- project timelines
- risk management planning (matrixes)
- change requests
- project post-mortems