2021.08.28

Precautions for conducting the competition

コンペ実施の注意点

Select outsourced companies in a competition

For companies such as manufacturers, requesting outsourced companies is always one of the indispensable tasks.
There are various types of outsourced companies, such as consulting companies, advertising agencies, and system companies.

It is indispensable for supporting corporate management.(These companies are called partner companies)

However, from various surveys, the degree of dissatisfaction with these outsourced companies is
It is said to be around 70%.

Since we spend a large amount of money on external orders, it is self-evident that one way of identifying this outsourced company will have a significant impact on our company’s business performance.
This time, I will tell you one of the ways to identify this outsourced company.

One of them is to “identify in a competition”.
When a company deals with a partner company

The first action is often a “competition”.
Therefore, in the “competition”,The future relationship will be decided,Isn’t the decision made based on just ideas, the atmosphere of the place, and popular words?

In fact, many clients Without being able to really identify a “good project”

It tends to be adopted for the above reasons,Of course, even if you manage to implement itThe expected result is not obtained,I often hear such cases.

In this columnRather than the content of the projectBy looking at the surrounding information,You will be able to find “really good projects”.

In fact, the people in charge of many companies I am in charge of are
With these instructions,It is possible to make a fairly strict scoring.

But at the same time, I haven’t received this instruction,Judges of the same company

I often get a lot of points,There is a big difference in the scoring ability of the project.

This time, I would like to introduce 10 points in the adoption of the “competition”.

①The quality of planning for a company with many people is usually low.

There are partner companies that bring a lot of people to the proposal.

If you have a lot of people, you might think that the client will put more effort into it, but this is counterproductive.

Mostly only a few people speak.

A team with a lot of people is a sign that “no one knows the whole picture”.

Details will be explained in Part (4), but the number of people and the quality of the content of the project tend to be inversely proportional.

Because there were many people, it is not a good company or a good project.

Rather, if adopted and implemented,The project is likely to start to get confused.

②You can see everything from the title and index of the proposal

By the way, the title of the proposal is very important.

for example,
Is it a branding strategy?
Is it a promotion project?

You can see how to perceive the orientation to the order, how to give it a title, and what the project talks about here.
Also, I think there is an index on the second sheet, but since the outline of the project is written here, you can understand how to assemble the project in one shot.

Most of the time, it’s already often wrong at this point.

I want to go to Hawaii, but I’m heading to the Philippines.

It seems that they are heading to the same south, but they often end up in the wrong place.

So, first, let’s check if this title and INDEX are in line with what you were looking for.

③Achievements etc. are written at the beginning

At the beginning, there is a partner company that explains the company’s achievements and staff background.
This is a technique used for fraud!

First of all, it is trying to win the credit of the company by the halo effect, and it is a sign that the contents are not confident.

It’s not bad to list the results, but many partner companies that write good plans post the results in the second half. Of course, if you have the contents, you can use the first stage, but most of the proposals you bring at the beginning will sink in the second half.

This halo effect is actually a habit,The client gets drunk with this halo effectSometimes you don’t know whether the project is good or bad until the end.

A known company will bring an abstract at the beginning.

④Chapters are not connected

Even if the index flow is perfect, there are many proposals in which chapters are not connected.

As explained in (1), many teams move apart, and in many cases no one supervises the flow.

For example, when proposing an advertising strategy, it goes through environmental analysis-resource analysis-promotion strategy formulation-creative-advertising plan-KPI setting, etc., but the results derived from each are often different, and not all are connected. It is. Some chapters may make good suggestions, but it doesn’t make sense if the whole thing doesn’t connect.

And what’s worse, the partner is “unaware that the flow is broken.”

Because, when the presentation is over, he looks happy.

For me, who has been taught that the proposal should flow from upstream to downstream Such a presentation can be confusing about what you want to do.

Rather than focusing on individual ideas It is important to make sure that this flow is in place.

⑤No individual expertis

In addition, individual expertise is often low.

I’m not going to go into details here either, but even though I’m calling myself a marketing and advertising expert, I’ve misdefined the brand, I don’t know the difference between marketing and promotion, KPI and KGI, and how to calculate it. I often think, “I don’t know too much.” Clients don’t have to know their expertise (although they often use buzzwords and horizontal letters), but it’s pretty embarrassing that a partner company expert doesn’t know the basics of the field. This is also common.

Of particular note is
A framework used in proposals. (* It is different from the drawing that organizes the information)It’s very good to understand the basics of the framework and draw the original,Is it a framework created in my own way without knowing the basics?

Is it a framework created for the purpose of arbitrarily guiding the plan?

It is an act that loses the credibility of the project itself, so please think carefully before using it.
(Example: The pilot doesn’t know how to read the instrument, you don’t want to fly like that)

⑥Be careful when subcontracting and handling copyrights

TThere may be a lot of traps in the proposal.

For example, a famous actress is designed in graphic, but it is not included in the estimate.

In order to avoid this trap, when making an orientation sheet, the most important thing to pay attention to is the handling of subcontracting (①) and copyright (②).

Relievedly, not only the cost of ordering the competition,An exorbitant amount of money will be charged for extended use or secondary use of the copyrighted work.

This is almost always unknown to the client and can be a source of trouble if you don’t notice it. To avoid this, create an orientation sheet that includes the following rules. (Although there are still many items)

① Subcontract:
Regarding subcontracting, we request the prohibition or disclosure of multiple consignments. Subcontracting means that the primary contractor places an order with its subsidiary, and then externally, and if it is a third contract, it is still an eighth contract. Why is this bad?

Taking an advertising agency as an example, we will deduct 15% or more overhead costs and place an order for production to that subsidiary. This subsidiary will incur overhead costs of around 30% this time and then outsource to an external company. If this continues, yes, it will be quite difficult.

In short, even if I ordered for 10 million, the final production cost was 1 million. We request the disclosure of subcontracting so that something like this does not happen.

② Copyright:
This trouble happens really often. Basically, we request the purchase of copyrighted works such as designs, logos, and copies that we have created. Of course, there are some works that cannot be purchased (for example, portrait rights of actors), but other works will be negotiated. I often hear that tens of millions of people were charged for the extension fee for commercials and WEB one year later because they didn’t do it properly.

⑦I don't understand the difference between the menu and the plan

As is often the case, you often don’t know the difference between an advertising menu and a plan or strategy.

For example, in the media plan chapter”Because it is a budget of 100 million, it will be 1000 GRP.”
Just or”I think that ●● is good for WEB advertising, assuming that 1 million PV will be achieved.”
Such.

Let’s make this explanation easier to understand.
・ 1000 GRP costs 100 million.
・ It is this WEB advertisement to achieve 1 million PV.

No, it’s not a plan. It is a menu.
・ Strawberry Daifuku, 100 yen
・ If you have 600 yen, you can eat 2 beef bowls
It is something like.

Clients who take the competition for the first time
Even with this menu proposal, it will move freshly.

However, anyone can write the menu.
If you really want to be effective
Is it a menu?
You need to determine if it is a plan or not.

By the way, what is a plan (for example, in a medium plan)?
Maximize reach by creating media allocations and schedules in consideration of which target comes into contact with what kind of viewing media and costs.
Etc. will be the real plan.

⑧Question time is important

Still, it’s about two weeks from Orient, and it’s difficult for partner companies to plan. We tell our clients that it’s more important to determine if a competition can be done as a partner.

Therefore, it is no exaggeration to say that the identification of partner companies appears in the question and answer session.

Not only attitude, but also eye movements, how to answer questions, facial expressions, foot orientation, hand movements, poverty swaying, etc.

Nature can be seen and hidden everywhere.

For example, “It is written that KPI raises awareness by 10%, but what is the reason for that?”

At first glance, he seems to answer politely, and when he sees other people, he sees various attitudes such as a moody face and a poverty-stricken face.

That attitude will be important information in the sense that it will tell the good or bad of the partnership in the future.

By the way, after receiving a proposal from an advertising agency,Without knowing that I was leaving the presentation venue early and calling outside,When the advertising agency finished the presentation and went out, he was swearing at the client.

However, the client was also watching closely, and the agency was rejected, but.
one more.

When I look for some client partners (advertising agencies)
I have been around an advertising agency.
I went to the agency with the face of the previous production, hiding its purpose and role.
The advertising agency doesn’t know my role, so the person in charge hits me.

“Well, I have 3 billion presentations now, so I wonder if I can do it ~, but if this presentation falls, it will be a little more, so I wonder if I will do that advertisement ~”

It’s too much to say.
But this person only thinks about himself.

For the client
Even if the budget is tens of millions of yen, it may be the amount of money derived from the profits of struggling to sell one hundred yen.

It’s not the money to secure the sales of their department, and it can’t be left to the partner companies who have such a real intention.

⑨Bad manners.

Since there is a risk that the matter will be identified, I will avoid specific explanations, but
I feel that the number of outsourced companies that do not know etiquette is increasing.

Some creators do not greet, there are people with jeans in the place of clients where suits are common, and presentation time is significantly exceeded, and problems before adult etiquette are scattered.

I’m not trying to force the old Showa era,

In fact, when we receive a job from such an outsourced company (whether we are relieved), our attitude suddenly changes, and there are many cases of trouble.

Poor manners lead to manners for subsequent projects.

⑩After all, the content of the project

To summarize the above

There is a company brand,If you take a lot of people,Even if the chapters are separated from each otherEven if there is no contentIt is permissible to lack politeness,Many outsourced companies think that …

It is an impression.I often think that the quality of grace and planning may be inversely proportional.

Planning can be a good partner company that has a balance and power of mind and body, such as efforts to work on the contents seriously, respect for clients, experience and brain, not the size and name of the company.

In my experience, the plans of the outsourced companies that saw this grace were almost empty. Conversely, partners who take the opposite action write high-quality projects.

Summary

What do you think.
I think there were many people who had an idea.

Requests from companies to our company have changed considerably compared to before.

In the past, I often received work from an advertising agency, created marketing and product proposals, and presented them to clients, but recently, I have been managing more and more competitions with clients, such as competitions with advertising agencies. I have come.

We are against the competition system (in many ways), but we still understand that many companies have to run competitions.

Therefore, the client is asked what to do to ensure a safe and reliable competition.

Why has such a request increased?

Originally, I was the one who received the planning order from the advertising agency etc. and made the proposal, so it is probably because I understand the circumstances, skills, feelings, etc. of the proposal side.

I think this kind of knowledge is the reason why we are asked to partition the competition.

This time, we introduced a method of “determining by competition, bidding, etc.”, which is one of the methods of identifying partner companies.

Above all, proposals such as competitions and bids are the first barrier to whether the partner company can do it as a partner.

It is very important to identify partner companies at this barrier.

The above is

This is the awareness I gained from my experience. For your reference.