Gyro research procurement rationale

A new kid in town

Over the years, we in the creative industries have become pretty good at overcoming the creative/suit divide to explain and sell ideas. Coming up with the smartest, most creative idea should be enough to seal the deal between agencies and clients.

But all of a sudden, there's a new kid in town. One or two more people are sat in the room at pitches, and we find them to be mysterious creatures. 'Procurement,' someone whispers. The increasing involvement of the procurement function in the purchase of creative services is changing the pitching process and we're a bit unsettled. Prejudice tells us that 'these people' are all about counting beans and comparing prices for pencils. They'll only look at the numbers! Frustrating, as despite the economic climate, it's simply not feasible for successful tenders to be solely price-driven.

In response, we quickly seek to optimise our pitching process to what we think must appeal to the archetypal bean-counter to underline value, efficiencies and savings. Strangely though, the strategy isn't as successful as we've envisioned. And we're unhappy anyway, because this is not what we're in the industry for.