For Kevin Stafford, Senior Vice President, Client Director, McDonalds co-ops account, Canvas, the importance of acing the annual audit is pivotal to the reputation of the agency. “In a time where agencies have been dominated by the holding companies, the goal of Canvas was simple,” he explained, “Create a scaled independent, best-in-class agency.”
This mission has paid off. Canvas has been recognized by AdWeek as Breakthrough Agency of the Year in 2020 and AdAge Creativity awards and Most Innovative Agency by Campaign US.
What Does an Audit Entail?
The frequency of an audit can vary by agency and by client. “With some of our clients, we actually get audited quarterly,” he noted. “They send the goals that were input by strategy and the exact times for the spots that ran for each of the audited markets to the audit company who uses that data, along with Kantar date to evaluate the buys vs. a panel of other similar clients, vs. ourselves in previous quarters and vs. the averages.”
But in unusual times, such as during the pandemic, there were other considerations involving the audit including different parameters for client success. “While the overall audit process did not change,” Stafford said, “there were some glaring changes in the media marketplace. But communication with our clients really allowed us to make the changes that continued to focus on the clients business objectives.”
Preparing the agency technologically also helped save the day for Canvas during Covid. “We had a very opportunistic transition just weeks before the pandemic that allowed us to go into Monday, March 16, 2020 with limited interruption in our communication,” and this helped solve for what would otherwise have been a hectic and error-prone pandemic adjustment.
Audit Preparation is Vital
Canvas, as with other agencies, has a standard protocol for preparing for an audit, Stafford explained. The agency calculates the post buy and sends the data to the audit company which then returns a preview of the analysis so the agency can respond with any additional commentary to the findings. “At the end of the day, our audit score is a number on our report card for how well we performed,” he noted, “However, it is just one part of that, and to me, it’s actually come to be about pride and being able to show, in numbers, versus the competition how well we have done.”
Ultimately, audit success is based upon trust. “We are lucky enough to have support from all of those partners in the good times, and a willingness to take chances in the challenging times. The trust our clients have in our work, both on the strategy and investment teams is something we are fortunate to have and I think it comes off in our work and the results we have seen over the last few years, with great media audit results,” he stated.
Preparing For a Future Audit
Stafford’s advice for future audits is to start early. “The reality is that the audit starts with our teams working together early. Even as we are finalizing our plans for 2022 now, our strategy teams are talking to our investment teams to make sure we have the right daypart mixes and what the market has seen changing over the last few weeks/months/year. We are looking to ensure we have the right overall strategy and that is aligns with our clients goals and objectives for the coming year.”
Building relationships both internally and externally is the key to ongoing success as is the ability to be strategic in an extremely fluid and transformative media ecosystem. “It’s the flexibility and willingness to challenge the status quo in each region, each market and with each client that has helped make Canvas so amazing. You add that to the world-class group of people in every department who really do love working together and it’s pretty hard for this team to not succeed,” he concluded.
This article first appeared in www.MediaVillage.com
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