Jay Carter, ABELSONTAYLOR

Jay Carter

SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, DIRECTOR OF CLIENT SERVICES | ABELSONTAYLOR

Whenever I discuss the issue of economizing on agency spend, two key questions need to be answered. First: "Are you getting great value for your promotion?" (That is, does it work as well as it could?) If the answer is no, a savvy and cost-conscious marketer should focus on the quality of the core promotion first. Economy comes from cutting programs that don't work, not by cutting the margins of a trusted partner who is doing the job you ask of them.

Jay Carter

The second question is "Are my processes as efficient as they can be?" While every organization needs to be effective in gaining the advice and consent of a medical-regulatory-legal team, frequently the number of steps taken are far more extensive than productivity would permit. For a large pharma client on a billion-dollar brand, a Six Sigma process was undertaken jointly by the client and AbelsonTaylor. It uncovered inefficiencies that, when addressed, reduced process costs by 17 percent. The main culprits? Poor initial direction by unseasoned brand managers and a need by junior staff to have perfectly clean promotional materials produced for each escalating review by their management. If senior marketers want to cut their costs, they can do so by undertaking efficiency training for their promotions staff on how to cut the waste out of their own process.