TrinityP3 rejects conflict of interest claims over new Calibr8or service
One of Australia’s major pitch consultancies TrinityP3 has today played down concerns, within the industry, about a new “capabilities benchmarking” service for media agencies, Calibr8or.
Agency sources have questioned whether there is a conflict of interest in the new venture, which is co-owned by TrinityP3 principal Darren Woolley and former Trinity consultant Stephen Wright, over it charging media agencies between $25,000-$40,000 a year for subscriptions to the service, while at the same time TrinityP3 runs many of the major industry pitches.
“TrinityP3 will still run pitches and we will charge clients for those services,” said Darren Woolley. “Calibr8or is a resource that TrinityP3 pays for to get an evaluation of media agencies specifically around their capabilities.”
“We still have our online register which all the agencies are asked to register on for free. They will still be included in all our considerations.”
Challenged on the conflict of interest Woolley said that no agency would be forced to sign up to the service.
“There is no requirement for any agency to be part of Calibr8or to be in consideration for a pitch,” said Woolley.
“TrinityP3 would be cutting off its nose to spite its face if it didn’t include all agencies available to the client,” he said. “We have an existing agency register which is open to all agencies to complete. Calibrator is just an additional service which TrinityP3 licences to provide us with a depth of information on all agencies.”
Woolley said he was unaware of agency concerns but said if any agency head had concerns “they should contact me directly”.
Wright said that so far 10 of around 30 agencies assessed in the service had signed up and that he was no longer an employee of TrinityP3, although he will still works out of the consultancy’s North Sydney office.
“I have left (TrinityP3) for all intents and purposes,” said Wright. “Callibr8or offices are at the same location (TrinityP3) but all Callibr8or does is allow TrinityP3 to be informed when talking to agencies.”
“We now have a more informed analysis of the varying strengths and capabilities of the agencies because it is an accurate footprint of what they can do and where their skills lie.”
TrinityP3 has long had a policy of not charging agencies to be involved in pitches.
It has run many of the most high profile media pitches in recent years, including for the likes of Woolworths and the Federal Government.
The CEO of TrinityP3 said the new product was catering to a gap in the market where agencies struggle to differentiate themselves.
“The reason for charging this as a separate company, was as a service for media agencies rather than for TrinityP3. When Stephen first pitched this he felt it was one of things that was missing in the industry was a way of getting feedback about how differentiated a particular media agency is,” he said.
“Only those media agencies wanting those additional consulting services that they get from him, in terms of feedback, and compare that to how their clients perceive them, is what they pay for. They don’t pay to be included in Calibrator.”
“This service benchmarks their capabilities. The problem is with benchmarking typically is that it all about their rates, but we are looking at capabilities. Everyone is out there saying we do data and analytics, we have a trading desk, saying we have good relationships — everyone says they are good at everything.
“What that does is it commoditizes the marketplace and then it becomes about ‘how cheap can I buy it’ so this brings back a rational, structural approach looking at the capabilities of media agencies.”
Nic Christensen
So let me understand this….
A former employee of a business that charges other businesses to evaluate and benchmark the capabilities of another group of businesses in a highly competitive yet ultimately undifferentiated specialist industry, containing within it multiple specialist disciplines, then sets up a new company in the same building as his former employer and offers part of the original service under a new guise, but now charges separately for that service, including charging his former employer, who presumably will now on charge their existing client base for a service that those clients thought they were getting as part of the original service.
What are we missing here? Or are Darren and Steve incredibly smart? And the rest of us presumably, incredibly not smart?
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Perhaps this was what Darren was referring to in his recent article about adding value for clients…
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So these guys pontificate on the practices of media agencies, rebates , trading desks etc.. Assume this holier than though mantel and then have the gall to launch this .. Appalling
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‘reminds me of the late 90’s when Agency Register charged clients to be on its books- from which it made recommendations to clients for shortlists. No pay, no recommendation. The AFA took them on (for once) and had this extraordinary arrangement scrapped. What’s the MF or TCA view on this?
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Totally inappropriate for a pitch consultant to be involved in a business like this.
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Apologies, my comment should have read “charged agencies”…not “charged clients”….(although maybe not a bad business model!).
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I am confused. So what do the agencies who pay for the service get, versus those that don’t? “consulting services” and “feedback”?
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“Calibr8or is a resource that TrinityP3 pays for to get an evaluation of media agencies specifically around their capabilities.”
I would have thought, that having run hundreds of media agency pitches over the last 5+ years across all client sectors and sizes, that TrinityP3 would already have a pretty damn good understanding of the capabilities of the various agencies in the market.
As a media agency this would be insulting to ask them to pay for this. When you fail in a pitch, feedback is usally free.
As a client advertiser, I’m surprised TrinityP3 is publicly saying they dont already know the capabilities of media agencies and have to pay a 3rd party to find out.
Forget the media agencies.. I predict client fallout. Looks like and smells like a cash grab to beef up revenue.. this is not a service media agencies or clients are demanding or have asked for and will just increase costs in the marketing ecosystem. Eventually clients pay for overheads as we all know. Ebiquity must be rubbing their hands with glee at this news.
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I think this will be good for us. Take the focus of rates and put it on capabilities and therefore more towards value. We should get paid for what we’re good at.
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So Darren, are you saying that without this product P3 will not have the nessesary information to FULLY evaluate an agency? Isn’t a client to expect you will assess an agencies capabilities as part of your normal process anyway?
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My experience with TrinityP3 has always been positive and they have acted in the best interests of all parties. Which is why I think Darren needs to take a long hard look at this service and decide how poorly it reflects on the integrity of his business.
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it’s only a conflict of interest if trinityP3 say it is!
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So where does “…..the accurate footprint of what they can do and where their skills lie”
come from? Website says it is science based…………..human behavourial abilities mixed in a laboratory?? Really……………
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To help everyone understand the Calibr8or process I have provided a detailed response here. http://www.trinityp3.com/2015/.....-agencies/ For those who have commented without knowing all of the facts and have responded simply based on the information contained in the post above, I invite you to read the details and possibly reconsider your position from a more informed perspective. Thank you.