"In some ways, it's kind of back to the future," said David
Beals, president of search consultancy R3:JLB, noting that 20 or 30 years
ago, the role was more common and the title was often ad director.
That person oversaw agency relationships, staffing quality at the
agencies, fee negotiation and production of the work. "The role is
back, in having someone who can help with the agencies in terms of
dialogue and performance," he said. "It's an internal third-party
consultant." The position largely disappeared after the dot-com
crash, and procurement would sometimes take on this task.
Agency liaisons are most common at large marketers with many
brands or multiple business units, such as consumer-packaged-goods
giants Mondelez, Kimberly-Clark, Procter & Gamble
and Johnson &
Johnson. But marketers like Target , American Express and
Microsoft have also
added agency-relations roles.
Much of Ms. Giampoli's career has been on the client side,
working at Kraft Foods
(now Mondelez) for 20 years. Others, like Ed McFadden, who oversees
agency relationships at Target , came up on the agency side in
roles like account management.
"Life is much more complicated than it ever used to be, and
there are so many more agencies and agency types," thanks to the
always changing media-scape, said Bill Duggan, group exec VP at the
Association of National Advertisers. "Somebody at the client has to
be the integrator to make sure agencies play nice together."
To keep up with the adland, Ms. Giampoli follows agencies making
headlines for new, unique service offerings or winning awards. If
she comes across work she admires, she rings up the shop.
Her focus isn't just on short-term marketing needs. When she
homes in on agencies she thinks may fit with Mondelez's long-term
goals, she begins "dating" them so that the marketer has strong
relationships in advance of a need. She's currently dating six or
eight agencies (hence the "agency slut" comment).
The marriage counselor part of Ms. Giampoli's role refers to
consulting when a relationship with one of her company's agencies
might derail. Nearly every time, she said, the issue comes down to
poor communication, be it over compensation or scope of work. Ms.
Giampoli will step in and mediate discussions.
"Taking time out to say, "How's this going and what can we do to
improve'" the relationship is key, she said. Ms. Giampoli also
oversees reviews, acting as in-house search consultant.
Target in 2008 created not only a similar role but a department
within marketing dedicated to agency relationships, overseen by Mr.
McFadden, who came to the retailer in 2006. He said his group
offers "broad perspective on the industry's most innovative
agencies, ensuring we have the right mix of talent. Our procurement
team focuses on financial negotiations with agencies, freeing our
team up to focus on day-to-day agency management."