Aprais establishes framework for partnership working with the world’s largest brands

Over the last 20 years, client-agency relationship experts Aprais have carried out more than 23,000 evaluations, globally

Data from Aprais shows that regular impartial, two-way evaluations create stronger relationships between marketers and their agencies.

This leads to better work - an analysis by Aprais of Effie award winners in 2018 found that winners that had been evaluated by Aprais had a higher-than-average score.

Regular evaluations also help brands and their agencies highlight areas in which each could improve. This has proved particularly helpful to senior marketing directors including one who in a recent interview with German publication Markenartikel highlighted the value working long-term with Aprais has delivered to their multinational brand.

Nicole Henninger, head of marketing excellence at Nestlé Germany, told the publication that the Aprais evaluation tool helps the brand pinpoint successes and failures in relationships, and highlight ways to improve them.

She also said Nestlé evaluates its agencies through Aprais twice a year – which Aprais data shows is the optimal frequency of evaluations to improve relationships between brands and their agencies.

"It's about identifying and addressing points of criticism at an early stage. We have been working with the Aprais evaluation tool for a long time and have been using it to review the cooperation with our agencies”

She was clear however that evaluation tools such as the Relationship Tracker developed by Aprais in partnership with the German Association of Communication Agencies (GWA) don’t replace informal discussions and close working relationships, but help to establish a framework for partnership working.

The full interview, in which Henninger discusses how Nestlé approaches working with agencies and the value of two-way evaluations, can be read in the March issue of Markenartikel or online.

The GWA Relationship Tracker is a presumed industry-first partnership between client-agency evaluation specialists and a leading national agency association, that provides members of the GWA with an entry-level version of Aprais’ globally-renowned platform.