Independent advice
Challenge assumptions and gain an experienced external view before making an important decision.
Everyone advising you has a position. Agencies, technology vendors and internal teams all do good work, and all have an interest in the answer.
An independent advisor's only product is judgement. That changes what you get told.
"Independent means anti-agency."
Not at all. Agencies have a role, internal teams have a role. Independence is a different role, not a superior one.
"We should just get a second agency opinion."
That's a second position, not an independent one.
"An outsider won't understand our business."
Fair concern. Which is why the first job is listening, not presenting a point of view.
Anton's perspective
My job isn't to tell you what you want to hear. It's to help you work out what's actually going on.
Independence is only useful if it comes with experience. Asking difficult questions is easy; knowing which difficult questions matter takes time in the field.
I'll listen before I tell you what I think. That order matters.
Listen properly before forming a view. Most of the useful signal is in the detail.
Separate what's known from what's believed.
Compare with what happens in comparable situations elsewhere.
Leave you with a call you can make, explain and defend.
Evidence
ESR Group
Five vendors shortlisted against 11 evaluation areas across the group's markets. Delivered as a senior consultant with TrinityP3, so the recommendation carried no implementation interest.
Kellie Parker, CMO, ESR Group
Read the full ESR Group story →Nestlé
Independent scrutiny of customer and CRM thinking for a global business, where the internal and agency views were already well represented.
Susan Wright, Manager CRM, Nestlé
Read the full Nestlé story →The practice exists to advise, not to sell implementation. Where delivery is needed, that's a separate decision you make on the merits.
It varies. Some are a focused piece of work over a few weeks; others are an ongoing advisory relationship. It should be proportionate to the decision.
Reconnect marketing with commercial objectives and future growth.
Determine whether marketing investment is creating sufficient commercial value.
Improve measurement and understand marketing's commercial contribution.
No brief required. Start with the situation you're facing.
