Advertising best practice, evidence and insights

What we know about working with agencies

Article • WARC Best Practice, September 2019

Summarises the insights from a series of key papers addressing client-agency relationships, which has seen many changes with globalisation and digital transformation.

How to work most effectively with multiple marketing partners

Article • Deb Giampoli and Karen Adams, WARC Best Practice, October 2018

Highlights characteristics of the most effective teams, barriers to integration, and “how-to’s” for marketers attempting to “orchestrate” the work of multiple agencies and other partners.

How the best marketers get their agencies to deliver the best work

Article • Deb Giampoli and Karen Adams, WARC Best Practice, August 2018

Outlines the skills marketers need to enable their agency’s creative team to deliver the best work.

How brands can build better partnerships with agencies

News • 23 June 2020

Brand marketers are missing a big chance to build more effective relationships with partner agencies, according to new research from the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA).

Moving measurement to the eye of the beholder

Article • Robert Wegenek, WARC Exclusive, June 2020

Considers some of the potential impacts as we head towards an addressable world.

COVID-19. The unwelcome game changer ad agencies needed

Opinion • Tim Brown, May 2020

Outfit's Tim Brown argues that while COVID-19 disruption has hit agencies badly, it is also a much-needed wakeup to transform both business and work, to survive and move forward into a very changed future.

How to build and maintain agency/client relationships, especially in a socially-distanced world

Article • Deb Giampoli, WARC COVID-19 Series, May 2020

Looks at the importance of agency/client relationships, which takes on special emphasis, and requires more diligence, at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic makes face-to-face meetings impossible.

Advertisers in China see business returning to (new) normal

News • 12 May 2020

The advertising sector in China is rapidly returning to business as normal, finds a new survey by the World Federation of Advertisers.

How a hybrid agency/in-house model serves 3M’s need for accountability

Article • Geoffrey Precourt, WARC Exclusive, May 2020

3M, the manufacturer of brands like Post-it notes and Scotch tape, has adopted a hybrid in-house/agency model to drive maximum effectiveness from its media spend.

Structuring marketer-agency partnerships for effectiveness

Article • Lucinda Peniston-Baines and Rob Foster, WARC COVID-19 Series, April 2020

As part of the WARC Guide to Structuring for effectiveness, Lucinda Peniston-Baines and Rob Foster of Observatory International share some top tips on how brands can best work with their agency partners to deliver work that connects with consumers.

Getting marketing structure right in high-growth markets

News • 20 April 2020

China and Southeast Asian markets are major opportunities for growth, but the speed of change is a challenge to marketers whose current ways of working may not be optimized for the complex future that is unfolding; R3’s Greg Paull offers some ...

The WARC Guide to Structuring for effectiveness

Article • WARC Best Practice, April 2020

A summary of new thinking and best practice on structuring for effectiveness, from the WARC Guide.

The WARC Guide to Structuring for marketing effectiveness

Opinion • Anna Hamill, April 2020

COVID-19 is bringing new challenges for the marketing industry in 2020, and the predicted economic recession will hit brands hard.

Three priorities for client-agency relationships built on effectiveness

Article • Rob Foster, WARC Exclusive, April 2020

How do marketing organisations identify what truly matters in an age of complexity? Rob Foster, Senior Consultant at The Observatory International, outlines the three pillars that keep everyone focused.

Structuring for effectiveness in high-growth markets

Article • Greg Paull, WARC Exclusive, April 2020

In the fast-growing markets of Asia, marketers need to consider optimal agency relationships, contracts and service agreements, scheduled audits and talent.

How Burger King ties buzzworthy campaigns to strategic objectives

Opinion • Stephen Whiteside, April 2020

Steve Whiteside spoke to Fernando Machado, CMO, Burger King as part of WARC’s Learn from the best report.

Learn from the best: Lessons from the world's most awarded brands

Article • WARC Exclusive, April 2020

Provides lessons learned by the best-performing brands in the WARC Rankings 2020 and the strategies they used to achieve success in 2019 awards shows.

4A’s – and agency business – steps up to new leadership role in response to COVID-19

Opinion • Geoffrey Precourt, April 2020

The agency business faces a significant challenge as COVID-19 places client revenues, and adspend levels, under pressure.

Ending the mania: How marketers can build better agency relationships

Article • Bruno Gralpois, WARC Best Practice, April 2020

This article dives into best practices for agency management, including: what is required for a strong agency partnership, how to conduct a successful agency search, ways of getting your agency to deliver outstanding work.

How to orchestrate a more streamlined and effective (i.e., “no spec creative”) agency selection process

Article • Deb Giampoli, WARC Best Practice, March 2020

This article advises marketers on how to improve the agency selection process.

Re-aligning the marketing industry: The in-housing trend in 2020 and beyond

Article • WARC Exclusive, February 2020

This white paper, the result of a partnership between WARC and MediaLink, examines the trend of in-housing in 2020 and beyond, focusing on implications for programmatic, creative, talent, and the future.

How consultancies assess their workers and what agencies can learn

News • 06 February 2020

An individual’s effectiveness is down to more than winning extra business, according to a new report into consultancy performance reviews – and agencies can take learnings from this.

Driving Change at IHG: Coleman Raymond discusses her role in transforming IHG’s Agency Strategy and Operations Practices

Article • Steven Wales, ANA Magazine, Forward, January 2020

Attempting to alter a corporate process or way of working that affects hundreds of people, both inside a global organization and externally with strategic partners, is the task InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) set when founding its Agency Strategy and Operations team.

It’s a two-way street: Agency experts give their perspective on the client-agency relationship evaluation process

Article • Richard Benyon, ANA Magazine, Forward, November 2019

While much has been written about agency evaluations from the client's perspective, there's been little coverage of the agency's side and its specific practices and behaviors.

How Clorox shapes its brand strategy in Latin America

Article • Geoffrey Precourt, Event Reports, Festival of Media LATAM, November 2019

The Clorox Company, which makes products ranging from bleach to charcoal and salad dressing, has a major presence in Latin America, and is making sure its brand strategies are fit for purpose in the region.

Client-agency relationships