'maverick' marketing spend is rife at some of Europe's top companies, claims procurement professionals report

The research was conducted amongst 200 procurement professionals, chosen from across 500 of the largest companies in Europe.

Other findings included almost half (42%) of those working in procurement departments feel pressure to improve marketing procurement, while almost a third face conflict with their marketing departments as a result.

David Fincham, business development director at Charterhouse, commented: “Maverick marketing procurement is a costly problem for Europe’s largest businesses, but can be very difficult to identify.

“Yet it represents the tip of the iceberg in ‘hidden’ savings. Firms need to take a fresh approach to marketing procurement to tackle uncontrolled and inefficient buying practices,” added Fincham.

It was also claimed that over a third (36%) of companies had no mechanism for measuring return on marketing investment.

Fincham continued: “Without a proactive marketing procurement strategy, it’s easy for marketing budget to be committed without procurement involved. In large businesses, this can equate to huge amounts of investment not procured in the right way. The potential lost savings here could be ploughed back into additional effective marketing activities.

“Those inheriting legacy processes should start building relationships with marketing immediately, and work together to develop a strategy that identifies potential improvements.”

The majority (58%) of procurement staff were said to have no remit within the marketing department, while a fifth (21%) said they had ultimate responsibility for marketing spend, and 37% said that they struggled to make savings in marketing purchasing.

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