Inside LinkedIn agency searches—and the critical information brands are failing to communicate

The growing trend of brands initiating agency searches on LinkedIn has been hotly debated since the industry increasingly started seeing these briefs late last year. The discourse runs the gamut from whether these searches risk attracting the wrong candidates by skirting traditional consultants to whether agencies should bother going after clients seeking shops through what some in the industry have called “cattle calls.” That hasn’t stopped marketers big and small from forging ahead with solicitations—or agencies from responding. Within the last month, non-alcoholic beverage maker De Soi, co-founded by Katy Perry and Morgan McLachlan, and Reckitt, the company that markets Lysol and other consumer staples, launched agency searches on LinkedIn. Amruta Vyas, De Soi’s director of marketing, posted a need “for a small-but-mighty creative agency partner,” that drummed up more than 1,000 comments and likes. Lee Barnsley, Reckitt’s global design officer, garnered nearly 700 likes and more than 300 comments on his post seeking a design agency. De Soi and Reckitt—neither immediately responded to requests for comment—followed brands including The North Face, Nike’s Jordan, Feastables and Heineken in launching LinkedIn agency searches. Pros and cons One argument in favor of these types of requests for proposals (RFPs) is to help marketers (and agencies) avoid the often lengthy, complex and costly traditional agency review process that is in need of some revamping. However, others argue that such RFPs actually lengthen the search by attracting the wrong candidates. Those critical of running such a process on the social platform most commonly used for professional networking charge that the posts often do not include crucial details that are found in a standard brief to indicate to potential agencies whether they are the right partners to even respond to the request. That, some people said, can attract every type of shop under the sun, and risks wasting the time of everyone involved. “I’m all for simplifying the process,” said agency search consultant Joanne Davis, who acknowledged that LinkedIn agency searches have some advantages, including providing “the marketer with a long list of agencies quickly at no cost.” But “some good agencies won’t respond,” the principal of Joanne Davis Consulting said, because there is not enough information given in these searches. To avoid this, a brand’s LinkedIn brief “must be clear and precise to limit the responses from unqualified agencies,” she said. Also: Why major brands are hiring agencies on LinkedIn—and dividing the industry Brands must also be careful about including too much information that it becomes a competitive risk, she noted. It’s a “fine line between sharing enough to get the right agencies to provide the right information versus the client disclosing too much publicly,” Davis said. “When an RFP is posted on LinkedIn with no context, that choice alone speaks volumes,” said Tracey Faux Pattani, CEO of Butler, Shine, Stern and Partners. “It makes it harder—not easier—for great agencies to assess fit. The best agencies don’t just chase opportunity. They look for signals of clarity, ambition and intent. If those aren’t there, it’s a strategic pass.” A marketer will also likely end up with too many options to sift through if they don’t give the proper details. “It’s kind of like jobs posted on social platforms—unless there’s enough detail in the job specs, the hiring manager will get a lot of junk,” Davis said. Ad Age asked consultants and agency executives what critical details brands need to include in a LinkedIn agency search. Below are some of the key details, based on their responses. To be sure, some people interviewed such as consultants could stand to lose business due to these searches. Budget is important Including a budget, even if it’s some sort of monetary range for direction, is critical for any brief, said Lindsey Slaby, founder of brand consultancy Sunday Dinner. It’s part of the “bare minimum” brands need to include in their LinkedIn briefs to give agencies a sense of whether they “can respond well,” she said. Including the budget in an RFP is important for agencies to understand whether it’s worth their time to pitch, as well as for planning purposes. Still, it might be a pipe dream to expect brands to post a budget range in LinkedIn agency searches for competitive reasons. In fact, some marketers don’t even provide a budget in a formal brief. “Budget is obviously a key factor,” said Scott Shamberg, president and CEO of media shop Mile Marker. “If brands expect to attract the agencies that are a good fit for their specific needs, they should be willing to share at least a range.” Key details for the sake of transparency Providing a budget for a project is a good way to establish a transparent partnership upfront, many people interviewed said. But it’s not the only detail needed to foster transparency. “In a perfect world, we would want to see a good amount of detail on the scope, expected timing from start to finish, definition of the process (RFI, RFP, presentation or submission, virtual or otherwise) and key decision criteria,” Shamberg said. With some of these LinkedIn posts, it’s not clear what even the most basic aspects of the search are calling for: is it for a project or agency-of-record title? Is it a request for information (RFI), which is used to gather preliminary information on various potential partners, or an RFP, used to solicit detailed proposals for a specific project or partnership? More: How Feastables and Heineken are using LinkedIn to find new agency partners “The more specificity the better,” said Dan Goldgeier, a senior copywriter at GTB, WPP’s dedicated Ford agency. “Do the respondents need specific category [or] vertical experience? A large team or small, nimble one? What is the length of the assignment? A project or some type of AOR situation? You need as many details as possible to effectively weed out who would be ideal for the work.” Goldgeier said the more details provided, the better chances a marketer will have in compiling a list of potential agency partners fit for the job at hand. As it stands now, he said brands are getting “a ton of responses, a few who match the criteria, many who don’t, and it’s on the marketer to properly sort through the respondents (which may not be efficient or fair).” “If you’re asking for RFPs on LinkedIn, own it,” said John Geletka, founder and chief experience officer of independent full-service shop Geletka+. “Make it the most transparent process in the industry: guaranteed callback, 30 minutes to pitch, real-time updates on where agencies stand, a public scorecard with clear criteria and weights and a full list of every agency that submitted. No ghosting. No black box. Just respect, delivered through transparency.” Slaby said some of the details missing from LinkedIn agency searches, outside of budget ranges, include context and what the work will be a part of, whether it’s an annual brand strategy or quarterly campaign; goals, KPIs and how success will be measured; details on the work itself including brand tone; logistics including timing; and who the core team is on the marketer side that the agency would be working with. “At the highest level, a brief should give an agency enough clarity to determine two things: Is this a fit for us? Can we bring something valuable to the table?” she said. Is it worth it to try? It’s too early to tell if these LinkedIn agency searches are effective, as most of the brands that launched them are either still undergoing the process or have not publicly discussed results. “It feels like we are in the ‘testing’ phase of this approach, with marketers trying to decide if they can attract the right partners through a post,” Mile Marker’s Shamberg said. Moya Fry, a senior global consultant and head of creative for MediaSense and R3 (the consulting firms that merged late last year), said it’s not surprising to see marketers use LinkedIn to find new agencies amid the increasingly fragmented marketing world, in which brands are hiring more specialized agencies in areas such as influencer, e-commerce, PR and design. “In a fragmented landscape, brands may be more inclined to treat an agency relationship as more transactional, almost ‘shopping’ for agencies as they would a new car or pair of shoes,” Fry said. “Behind every great idea is a talented team and the best place to go for talent is LinkedIn. The connections give the search a more legitimate feel versus going out to the public market.” Aaron Anderson, head of business development and marketing at Canvas Worldwide, added that these searches are really only being tested on the creative side and likely wouldn’t work for media planning and buying purposes. “If you are a marketer of any scale, there are only 15 or so media agency choices versus thousands of creative shops available to brands,” Anderson said. “Thus, it might work as a fresh way of finding that proverbial creative agency diamond in the rough.” Still, some agency executives interviewed said they doubt they would ever respond to LinkedIn agency RFPs, even if more details are given, because they lack the most critical aspect of these searches: face-to-face, agency-brand relationship building. “The most important part of a review process is the time for real team-to-team interaction,” said Christy Cross, head of growth at Trade School and independent shop 22squared. “At the end of the day, this is a human business. … When things go south on a holiday weekend, who’s going to pick up the batphone and get in the trenches with you? That’s impossible to assess from a written proposal.” Michael Miller, founder and head of creative at independent marketing agency Gravity Global, said established shops “should probably not respond to these ‘open call’ requests.” “Perhaps small or newer agencies might see this as a way to get a foot in the door, but that’s like hoping to find stardom by walking down the streets of Hollywood,” Miller said. Courtney Lewis, chief marketing officer of independent creative agency The Variable, said she vets potential new business opportunities by “meeting the clients, sharing how we think about advertising and asking lots of questions about their goals. A LinkedIn all-call doesn’t allow for any of that to happen.” Recent news: Inside the hidden CMO job market

Inside LinkedIn agency searches—and the critical information brands are failing to communicate

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