General F.A.Q.s

General F.A.Q.s

Q. What is agencyfinder.com

A. agencyfinder.com is a sensible, proven, confidential and ethical method for client and agency matchmaking. It represents the time-saving and cost-effective way to search for the best and most qualified ad agencies, public relations and marketing firms – anywhere in the world. Rather than the burden of analyzing vast bits of agency information, use our interview process to define needs; then let our search engine identify agencies that match.

Each agency has been certified using criteria established by our Board of Advisors -- industry leaders who know from years of experience what it takes to make a great agency. So there's no waste of time, money or effort looking through endless lists of unscreened agencies. Our search process points to those that meet or exceed the search requirements, whether it's for a special assignment or a long-term relationship.

Q. How does it work?

A. It begins when the searcher registers and defines their requirements. With thousands of offices represented, each agency has described their firm using more than 500 database fields to identify attributes -- agency services, media experience, industry and market experience, employee census, office location, billing options, etc. Once the ideal agency is defined, our search engine sweeps the database to find and report how many. When that group is reduced to 35 or less, seven agency essays and multiple case studies are read and scored.

The essays describe creative approach, strengths, client/agency philosophy and what sets them apart from the pack. Since they're not slanted to a specific situation, they reflect a true and ongoing statement of the agency's position. Essays and case studies function as tiebreakers and serve as a chemistry meter. The search can be refined as many times as necessary until the agency pool is reduced to semi-finalists that will be invited (usually, about ten or twelve). That concludes the on-line search.

Within 24 hours, a BPI consultant telephones to offer counsel and to discuss the selected agencies. With short-list in hand, and only with the searcher's permission, we invite each agency to contact the searcher by telephone. To facilitate and expedite, we handle all the paperwork, the search RFP, the invitations and confirmations. In the RFP, we can include additional descriptive information, and additional questions that may need answering. Searchers can have meaningful conversations with great agencies in days.

Q. How long does it take?

A. A cursory search with relatively few criteria can be done in five to ten minutes for preliminary research. A final search must be more thorough and include as many requirements as are necessary. Most final searchers spend about an hour or so from start to finish, but since this is a critical step, it pays to take your time.

Q. What does it cost?

A. The agencyfinder.com service is offered at no cost to qualified searchers because it's sponsored by our Certified Agencies. If both searcher and agencies were to pay, that would create a potential conflict-of-interest. Alternatively, studies indicate that search consultant fees frequently begin at $25,000.

Q. How is it different?

A. You might call agencyfinder.com the next generation of Internet interaction. Other services only offer a handful of attributes in the definition stage. That's because their agency database information is generic and relatively shallow. A search with them lands you on a directory page, something like the Yellow Pages. What you see is what you get -- name, address, telephone, employee names and titles, media buying habits, general capabilities and client list. You're left to fend for yourself. What might appear like an instant solution can be misleading.

These Internet-only services don't offer human assistance, so if you misstep (and that's easy for anyone to do), your "candidates" are markedly off-target. Contacting them wastes your time, wastes their time and makes your search a matter of public record. Not exactly what you intended!

agencyfinder.com data is deep and extensive, and our experienced consultants are an integral part of the process. They're here to help and to ensure that your search is successful. That alone is a powerful difference!