Fathom Perspectives: Ditching the RFP When You Hire A Creative Firm

Perspectives

Ditching the RFP When You Hire a Creative Firm

fathom.netBy: Louisa Desson

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If you are interested in hiring a creative firm,

you might think the best way to compare apples

to apples is to start with sending out a Request for

a Proposal. While RFPs can be a timesaving way

to get competitive bids for your latest initiative, there

are a number of limitations when they involve

creative work. We’ll outline them here and then we’ll

propose a different strategy for getting a tailored

proposal that is right for your organization.

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overview

PerspectivesDitching the RFP When You Hire a Creative Firm

You’ll get exactly what you asked for.Who said that was a bad thing, you ask? Well,

when you are putting out an RFP and there’s

limited room for questions and answers, you’re

likely to get proposals that address every item

you requested, regardless of how important it

was to you. The result can be a proposal that

disproportionately gives weight to items that

you included simply because you thought they

should be there, not because they are of critical

importance to the project.

For example, we’ve seen RFPs that call for web-

sites to function in every web browser, a techni-

cal feat that – given the rapid obsolescence of

browsers – is both prohibitively expensive and

unnecessary. To meet that requirement and re-

main under consideration for your project, you

may end up with a proposal that doesn’t include

other creative suggestions for what your project

could be – there’s simply no room for them.

You’ve gotten what you asked for, but not the

benefit of imagining what your project could be.

RFPs force everyone to pretend they know exactly how the project will unfold. Many times, we’ve seen RFPs for specific projects

that request estimating, down to the hour, how

long certain elements will take. While that may

be a suitable way to proceed for say, following a

blueprint and constructing a building to exacting

specifications, creative projects, by nature, often

don’t function that way.

The honest answer is that we don’t know yet. Not

until we sit down together and figure out what the

project is and how we can work together to best

tell your story can we begin to envision how long it

will take to make it happen. But if you lock us in to

filling out an Excel spreadsheet, we may be clos-

ing the doors to the potential to create something

unexpectedly brilliant.

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limitations

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01PerspectivesDitching the RFP When You Hire a Creative Firm

It’s not a great way to get to know the creative firm. Many RFPs ask for bios and résumés for the

project team, but that doesn’t really convey a

sense of the culture and the fit that you would

have with the firm. That understanding truly

starts with a conversation, in which you can de-

termine how you would find the experience of

working with the firm and what would be your

dedicated team. Conversations lead to partner-

ships, RFPs lead to vendor-client relationships

where you’re likely to get what you asked for,

and not much more.

In the best relationships with creative firms, your

work together is not just the creative solution

that appears on the screen or on the page for

the world to see. It’s the creative thinking and

the logic for those decisions that distinctly posi-

tions you apart from the competition and that

serves as a strategic framework for your future

marketing initiatives.

RFPs make it very difficult to measure the kinds

of insights and creative thinking that you would

get from the creative firm. That’s because RFPs

typically don’t reward that kind of thinking and

the renegade creative firm might get thrown

in a discard pile for not answering all of your

questions.

The RFP is focused on the “answer” way too soon.Responding to RFPs, by their rigid nature and

formulaic structure, is diametrically opposed

to how most creative firms like to work. That’s

because RFPs start with the answer – the type

of project that the client requests a proposal to

create. There’s no discussing which business goals

made such a project necessary and whether the

proposed project approach is the best way

to achieve them.

Sure, no one knows your company or your in-

dustry better than you do, but the creative firm’s

expertise lies in mastering the medium to get your

message across. We might have some valuable

insight on how to go about doing that – maybe

even more cost-effectively than you thought – but

it can’t be conveyed in an RFP.

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limitations

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Lowest bid wins? Determining a scope of work for a creative project

– whether it’s designing a new website, creating a

social media strategy, or rebranding the organiza-

tion – is very different from the more black-and-

white procurement exercises many clients go

through in their daily routines.

If you are choosing an enterprise-wide CRM, for

example, you can evaluate the features and ben-

efits from a handful of providers who offer similar

services. The one that is the best match at the best

price wins.

Not so with the best creative firms, where there

is no off-the-shelf, prepackaged solution for you

to evaluate. You don’t want a brand strategy or

a website designed like the client’s before you –

you want something unique to your organization,

based on what will really make a tangible differ-

ence in how you can do business.

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limitations

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What’s the alternative?

There are so many intangibles involved in work-

ing with a creative firm. At Fathom, we’ve been

responding to RFPs for over a decade, though

we’ve found that we’re answering fewer and fewer

of them today, precisely because they don’t allow

us to work with clients in the way that we think is

the most effective.

And those that we do end up working on that

started as RFPs? The end result often bears very

limited resemblance to how it started out.

So, how do you proceed if you want to get

a number of competitive proposals that allow

you to compare multiple creative firms?

Here are some suggestions:

Narrow your list down to 3-5 firms.

Contact each of them and schedule some time to

discuss your project. You’ll get a chance to meet

key people from the creative firm, and, chances

are, refine your goals for the project.

There should be no cost for these conversations.

It’s a chance for both sides to get to know each

other and determine if there’s a good fit. At the

very least, you will be prepared to prepare a more

knowledgeable RFP.

Instead of an RFP, send out a description of your challenge.

Invite creative firms to propose the most effective

way to go about solving your business challenge,

whether it’s rebranding your organization or

developing a global web presence. From here, you

can refine your project description and invite one

or two firms for a more in-depth conversation.

If you must start with an RFP, invite the finalists for an in-person meeting.

You will get a sense of how the creative firms think

and you may get some novel ideas for how you

will ultimately choose to proceed. It’s a much bet-

ter way to get to know the firm and to see if you

can work well together.

alternative strategy

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thank you

Thank you for taking the time to read

this Perspective. All of us at Fathom would welcome

the chance to talk with you more about how to

select a creative firm. Having the right fit and

creating the space where real change can take place

is close to all of our hearts.

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About FathomCreating an authentic future that is compelling to

others is essential for unlocking an organization’s

potential. Fathom’s insight and expertise in brand

development broadens the vision of what an orga-

nization can be, moving its business and its people

forward.

Regional, national and global organizations rely

on Fathom to align internal and external concepts,

perceptions and expectations. The result of our

client partnerships is real, lasting change.

Our capabilities include organization-wide vision

work and leadership development, strategic con-

sulting for brand, marketing and technology initia-

tives, and creative direction and execution. Clients

include Newman’s Own Foundation, Kaman

Corporation, Covidien, Jacobs Vehicle Systems,

Junior Achievement of Southwest New England

and Center for Leadership Studies. Learn more at:

www.fathom.net.

About The AuthorWith a Master’s from Stanford University,

Louisa’s reporter’s intuition-plus her academic’s

thoroughness-never steers her (or us) wrong.

We depend on Louisa for insight, dedication

and, most of all, a true commitment to best rep-

resenting the enormous variety of clients with

whom we work. Exposure to such a divergent

group of organizations has transformed Louisa’s

love of learning into a daily happening, be it

to enhance her meticulous planning skills or

improve her expertise in the ever-evolving world

of SEO and online marketing.

Louisa DessonDirector of Strategy and Content Marketing

about

PerspectivesDitching the RFP When You Hire a Creative Firm

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Fathom Perspectives: Ditching the RFP When You Hire A Creative Firm