Five questions every CMO should ask a prospective ad agency

Edward -- great piece as always. Love question #1 What is the future of advertising? This should be a must interview question also. I want someone to talk to me about companies like Amazon, Google, Apple and Microsoft and how they are reinventing communication.I want to hear them talk about the transformation of commerce. It is amazing and disappointing as very few senior people can really articulate this and means that they are not curious enough.

With primary or shared responsibility for areas such as sales management, product development, distribution channel management, public relations, marketing communications (including advertising and promotions), pricing, market research, and customer service, CMOs are faced with a diverse range of specialized disciplines in which they are required to be knowledgeable.

You left off diversity. But who cares most advertising agencies aren't diverse.

Mario - good suggestion. I've had a go here: http://bit.ly/98ZhAf

Great questions ! It gave an idea to write an article on 5 questions an agency should ask a CMO, to test if the agency should engage in an RFP or just give that customer up. Mario

Interesting topic. Edward, I'd be curious to know if Zappos made you go through a similar assignment, given the recent focus on their own culture in The New Yorker and this article in the New York Times: http://tiny.cc/Qb0Fo

As always an interesting and thought provoking read and particularly pertinent to a company like ours that finds itself in larger pitches. On the theme of the future...A question that should be asked is for real who will be working on my account and why? That upfront communication seems simple enough but it is surprising how many times I have heard horror stories surrounding this issue Michael Ferdman and Subba I share your wishful thinking

A relationship is a two-way street. While I love the questions that you have raised, would it be wrong of the agency to ask equally important questions of the client? For example, what in your opinion constitutes a great creative (idea)? Or what has been the boldest decision based on intuition (and not on drivel from research) that you have taken?... I know what I am suggesting is unlikely to happen. But it is a wishful thinking.... .-= Subbu´s last blog ..The liberal side of the digital world =-.

All great questions, and I'd like to build on pt.4 " You told us that your agency specializes in many disciplines. How are you going to get them to work together? For example: You have a design group, interactive team, promotional group, brand planners, etc. That's a lot of people, with different viewpoints and ego's. Whose going to be responsible for leading and defining my brand, while making sure it's consistent throughout all applications?

Edward, all good questions and I don't disagree with anything in the comments either. It would be hilarious to be the proverbial fly on the wall witnessing the parade of agencies stumbling through this test. One thing nags at me though. In order to know the right questions to ask, the CMO him/herself must also have an enlightened POV, and have it supported by the corporation - and I actually wonder more about the likelihood of that than an agency's ability to say the right thing in a chemistry setting. Too many business leaders and therefore too many CMOs still think in a top-down, command and control way. It's still the safe choice. Change needs to occur high-up on the client side before agency businesses will really do much more than pay lip-service to the idea that companies are in business to understand and serve consumers. And it's unlikely those changes will come from the CMO. He/she has too much to lose from junking the status quo.

Great post and great comments. I especially love the point that you make, Edward about hiring an agency's future, not their past - so important in these rapidly shifting times. As a marketer currently working with a full service agency, I'd add one more question (borrowed from Teresa Taylor of Qwest) that both the potential agency and the potential client should be asking: "If I called three people who have worked with you, how would they describe that relationship"? So often I find that the quality of the relationship ends up impacting the quality of the work. And as Taylor points out in her Corner Office interview http://bit.ly/4oXDUi, you are likely to get two positive and one negative examples, all very telling.

I think the question about the creative team is a great one. Should give you a lot of insight into what kind of ideas and innovation you're going to get from that particular agency. I would also want to know how the agency is structured and how they manage projects. Does the agency allow it's lead developers to be client facing when it comes to producing/managing tech heavy projects? Or am I going to be working through a more traditional account manager (no background in tech development) no matter how tech heavy my project is? The answer is huge when it comes to communication and efficiency.

Your point regarding the definition of the creative team is a good one. That label is a carry-over from Bernbach's creative revolution. We are now living/coping with the media revolution. That's lead by planners and strategy. All CMOs should be looking for planners and strategists as integral to the creative process. Thanks for this. I enjoy reading your thoughts.

I'd add this question: "Which agency (other than your own and not within the same holding company) is doing the most effective work today? Why? And, how do you define "effective"? .-= Tom Cunniff´s last blog ..The Digital Future of Magazines? =-.

Edward, I would add one more thing to this list. Not sure how to phrase it, but i think a question about principles of management would be key. My last full-time gig -- before my head injury took me out of the game --was with an agency that did not have clearly defined management principles. There was a lot of talk about flatness, etc., but actions were different, and as an ECD and a key part of the management team, my ability to motivate and inspire suffered, because my criteria for good management were different from other key managers. We had no shared principles, really. In fact, I would say that advertising in general suffers from a lack of appreciation for good management. Talent matters, yes, but the environment in which that talent works matters more. This is why all star teams are never as good as actual teams in sports! Jeff .-= Jeff Shattuck´s last blog ..Interlude: a song revisited after more than 20 years. =-.

As someone responsible for writing these documents, I more than appreciate your guidance and pray this finds its way into the right hands. The future focus and measurement of innovation is the most important piece, agreed. I actually wrote a similar post about this today. Here's another question: Have any of your ideas ever failed? What did you learn from that? .-= Gretchen Ramsey´s last blog ..Quit Your Job =-.