Comments on: RFP, R.I.P.

By: iain

iain — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 01:08:01 +0000

I just hummed and hawed about an rfp that I wasn't sure about... I've Just sent off the response as above and feel a great weight has been lifted off my shoulders!

thanks for the great article.

By: Alan Stuart

Alan Stuart — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 19:35:28 +0000

me likey. i sent around our agency to see if we can do the same, but i doubt it will happen immediately.

By: Loughlin O’Nolan - taglines don’t come for free ;-) :: How To (And How Not To) Buy Design Services :: January :: 2008

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 23:16:59 +0000

[...] The advice in this article is absolutely on the money. Highlights include In our experience, organizations that use the RFP process to purchase creative services often find that their expectations are not met. [...]

By: Michael

Michael — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 22:09:11 +0000

Great points mentioned above! Check out what Trumpet did to reverse the process. A Request for Problems..

http://www.trumpetgroup.com/rfp

The Golden RFP: Trumpet's Request For Problem

Everybody says the way marketing agencies work needs to be reinvented. Yes. So we’ve changed the things that aren’t working, and re-engineered around ideas that drive business opportunities –
beginning with “hello.” Our solution takes the form of the traditional Request For Proposal (RFP) with one big difference: It’s from the agency. Why? Because the traditional RFP is often the first
step toward a bad relationship built on superficialities. Too much swimsuit competition, not enough talent. Trumpet proposes a new way: Request for Problem.

By: Brand Aid » Blog Archive » RFPs: How NOT to hire creative services.

Brand Aid » Blog Archive » RFPs: How NOT to hire creative services. — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 17:41:05 +0000

[...] Wonderful post here from smashLAB.RFPs are so 2oth Century. It seems that actually researching viable agencies is the new RFP. Who knew?! « Viral marketing for “Cloverfield” makes the movies interactive [...]

By: Jodie Lapchick

Jodie Lapchick — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 17:29:05 +0000

I've had several opportunities to help potential clients write an RFP. I always recommend that they include a solid overall budget and that the RFP is a request for, say, “if we gave you 80k and this is our situation, what might you propose we do with the budget? How would you determine that, etc.” That way, the client has a baseline to measure responses against.

In addition, this doesn’t have to mean that all 80k is used. It may be that the client only actually needs 60k of this work, so they can refine the budget after getting the proposals.

But it allows the client to see the thinking and how the relationship might work, which are the two things so hard to measure when the dollars vary so much.

By: Sofus Graae

Sofus Graae — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 17:01:13 +0000

NIce article - Personally I have never been directly involved in the decision making of accepting a RFP - but I recently came across a site called http://www.rfp-templates.com and thought it shows how much people care for their service they want to pay for when using templates...

By: darryl ohrt

darryl ohrt — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 03:35:56 +0000

Awesome post. I'm taking your lead, and going to develop a stock response to these for our agency, as well. Excellent!

By: Able

Able — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 18:20:43 +0000

Insightful post! I think it would also be helpful to attach your "Better ways to hire designers" section to your reply to give them a good alternative to the RFP.

By: Peter

Peter — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 14:48:12 +0000

I’m currently working as a consultant for a midwest state government, and I can see first hand how the RFP process for our tourism department directly hurts the state’s image.

I can think of three very capable agencies in the area that could create great work that would actually position the state as a destination. Or develop a great brand identity. I’ve spoken to CDs in all of these places begging them to at least throw their hats into the ring. They would all love to work for the state. They have a great affinity for this place. It’s in their best interest to improve the image of the state. And they’re more than willing to be flexible with the work and billing to accommodate budgets and timelines. But all three won’t touch the work because they know how labor intensive the process is and how likely the work will be given to whoever walks in and throws a lowball bid.

It all comes down to two qualifiers: cheapest and capable. So the cheap agency with enough warm bodies gets the work. Not the agency that would assess what the state needs and respond with messaging/design that reflects those needs.

When it comes to advertising, design and marketing, the RFP process is an elaborate system built to fail while covering your ass.