Scottish Government agency roster analysis
Not so pitch perfect
There was never any doubt about it, the new Scottish Government’s communications agency roster was always going to throw up a few shocks. Following 11 months of speculation as to which agencies would make the grade, who was producing the best work, winning the best accounts and was likely to be on the final list, no one could possibly have guessed correctly the final names.
And guessing is exactly what the industry was doing, because due to the new EU legislations, all public procurement has now to be done under an entirely new system. This meant a lot of form filling and little else – which many have already stated does not suit the hiring of creative companies.
‘How can you rate one creative agency against another unless you’ve asked to see some creative work?’ many have asked. But, then again, the Government could easily reply with the question ‘How do you rate creativity at all?’
One thing that was never in doubt, and was admitted by John Swinney, cabinet secretary for finance and sustainable growth, upon the announcement of the final framework roster, the focus was on cost savings. That was obvious from the outset – expanding the framework from three disciplines to seven and increasing the number of companies capable of working for the Government three fold – yet the budget was to remain the same. Therefore it is clear that companies will probably have to streamline their costs in order get any work at all. But that is after the mini-pitches which will be employed for the main campaigns, for which three or four agencies will need to compete yet again in order to prove they are the best company for the job, meaning more time and manpower needing to be spent following all the effort and time that has already been invested in just getting onto the list.
Yet the Government roster is incredibly important to agencies in Scotland – in fact, it is easily the most important account open to the Scottish industry and has become so with the number of retained accounts dwindling over recent years – meaning that any work available to agencies is snapped up and treated with kid gloves.
Make no mistake – getting on the Government roster will make and break agencies over the next 12 months and those who have not made it will need to be at their very best in finding new revenue streams elsewhere.
Arguably the biggest shock was the omission of Smarts from the PR list, an agency which has worked for a long time with the Government, and as one of the major factors for agencies was to prove their knowledge and understanding of the working of the Government, it seems almost unbelievable that Smarts would not be able to prove its continued worth.
Meanwhile, Edinburgh-based Family has said itself that it was ‘unsurprised’ not to be retained on the advertising list and has long set in motion a new business plan to minimise the impact of such a loss.
The design roster is the one which has caused the most ‘uproar’ with the inclusion of The Big Partnership and Weber Shandwick. The Big Partnership may be known mainly for its public relations work, but following the acquisition of Catchline four years ago it has gone about developing a more integrated approach which includes design, online and advertising work. Meanwhile, the inclusion of Weber Shandwick is actually a red herring, as it is Shandwick Design – the long established design arm of Weber Shandwick – which has landed its place on the list. That higher profile agencies, such as Elmwood, Navyblue, Marque, D8 and Nevis, have been excluded is likely to have compounded that bewilderment.
A similar issue is noticeable in the announcement that The Leith Agency made the PR list, when in fact it should have been announced as Stripe – The Leith Agency’s sister PR division, with Leithal Thinking for the Research List.
The rest of the roster seems straight forward – although some have raised questions about the inclusion of The Gate Worldwide in the digital list as it is primarily known as an advertising agency.
Roger Williams wrote in the previous issue of The Drum that he expected questions to be raised about the final choices, but at the end of the day the whole point of this roster was to ensure ‘transparency’ in the system and to ensure that no money was wasted or overspent.
This will have impacted largely on the list – and will do so upon the industry – but the Government has done what it set out to do. It has extended its list, and actually retained most of the agencies it previously worked with – and time will tell as to how successful this framework will be.
This was the first time that the Government has had to undertake this process and already speculation is mounting that PR and digital will see the most work over the next few years and we shall have to wait and see how much work the above-the-line agencies will receive. Certainly the recognition of the growth in importance of research is encouraging – especially for the research sector – while the events companies will also gain from added clarity.
One thing is for sure though, the Scottish creative industry will change as a result of these decisions, if it’s for the better we shall have to wait and see.
If you have any views on the procurement process or would like to express your opinion on this important issue in the Scottish creative community, please contact stephen.lepitak@carnyx.com