Marketing Procurement

Procurement’s future is bright…and busy

The Power of Procurement

“We’re valuable, and we’re scarce. This also means we’re vulnerable to high workloads, stress, and burnout. As an industry, we need to consider how we attract more talent to the profession to keep up with the demand”

We find ourselves well-positioned as marketing procurement professionals. Conversations about difficult stakeholder relationships are on the decline. We are becoming more strategic and long-term in the value we deliver to our organisations.

Our objectives are maturing beyond cost savings. Demand for marketing procurement talent remains strong, and supply will continue to be tight for years to come. We’re also safer from AI disruption than other disciplines. AI looks set to disrupt our supply chains in ways that will keep marketing procurement professionals busy for years to come.

It’s safe to say I’m very optimistic about our future and the role ISBA’s marketing procurement community will play in innovating the UK advertising industry. ISBA’s purpose is to create an advertising environment that is transparent, responsible and accountable; one that can be trusted by the public, by advertisers and legislators. These are principles that align with marketing procurement’s purpose to build sustainable, resilient, and high performing supply chains.

We’re maturing as a function

• Pitching and supplier relationship management practices continue to improve.

• Relationships with marketing stakeholders are improving.

• People are having more success securing buy in for their strategic visions.

Media agency contracting has improved dramatically

One of the areas marketing procurement has excelled has been embedding more transparent and robust media service frameworks with their media agencies. Media contract compliance auditors have seen a huge improvement in the quality of advertiser’s media agency agreements over the past 7 years since ISBA launched our first media services framework (MSF).

Our marketing procurement community has driven this dramatic improvement in contracting quality. The CMOs of your organisations appreciate the hard work that goes into these agreements and the value they bring in presenting the marketing function as commercially responsible.

There are more challenges for us to address

In the coming years I expect to see our marketing procurement community play a key role in:

• Delivering greater transparency in digital supply chains
  ISBA’s programmatic task force is working to create a transparent programmatic supply chain. Our programmatic studies have been successful at auditing premium inventory amongst big advertisers and publishers. The next challenge is to enable auditing for individual advertisers in a practical and cost effective manner.
• Embedding better online standards to support consumer trust in advertising
  ISBA is working with the IAB to update our media services framework online standards to continue to drive practices that deliver an advertising environment that consumers trust.
• Aligning supply chains to your organisations DE&I goals
  ISBA’s Inclusion network drives change in DE&I across all areas of marketing including representation in advertising, and diversity of industry talent.
• Reducing carbon emissions
  Procurement plays an important role in ensuring advertisers meet their carbon reduction objectives.
• Greater alignment between agency and advertiser interests
  Agency holding companies continue to create practices that don’t align with advertiser interests. Good agency contracting and governance are becoming more complicated.
• Responsible use of AI
  Finding the right structure to facilitate innovation and mitigate risk is our challenge.

We need to build a pipeline of new talent

All of this positions us well as marketing procurement professionals. We’re valuable, and we’re scarce. This also means we’re vulnerable to high workloads, stress, and burnout. As an industry, we need to consider how we attract more talent to the profession to keep up with the demand; and ensure we have sufficient talent to put our best foot forward as we face new opportunities to advance the perception of our profession.

There’s more support than ever before

I’m encouraged by the growing support and resources available to marketing procurement professionals. The ANA and WFA’s marketing procurement communities continue to go from strength to strength. The incredible growth of Marketing Procurement iQ is another example of our industry’s insatiable appetite for learning, sharing, and community. These resources will be invaluable as marketing procurement responsibilities continue to grow.

Please get in touch, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

About the author

Nick Louisson is Director of Agency Services at ISBA