Agency Roster Reporte WFA
Agency rosters are in an era of constant change, with the majority of multinational advertisers already changing or planning to reform current structures for working with external partners, according to new research from the WFA and The Observatory International. In the wake of a menu of challenges such as the global pandemic and exponential rise of digital, combined with added pressure in areas such as sustainability and diversity and inclusion, just 75% of major multinationals said that they were ‘somewhat satisfied’ or less with their current agency roster structure. Additionally, nearly seven in 10 (69%) had recently made, or planned to make, changes to their roster to reflect the new world order and their desire for a different structure. Only 25% of respondents were ‘very’ or ‘extremely’ satisfied with their current arrangements. Previous WFA research in this area carried out in 2018 found that major multinationals recognised that their roster set-up was not meeting their needs sufficiently, scoring them an average of only 5.7/10. New challenges in the last four years such as rapidly-changing consumer behaviours and the digital revolution have reinforced the need for new arrangements. The 2018 survey also found that 60% of clients were looking to reduce the number of agencies on their roster. Managing multiple agencies effectively requires time and resource on the part of the marketing function. The new data reveals that in 2022 respondents most commonly work with 1-25 agencies across all marketing disciplines both globally (67%) and regionally (71%), aided by greater centralisation in partner appointments.