Last Friday an ominous Agency page summoned all available interns to Julie’s office. We timidly stepped in to meet with her, afraid we had somehow done something wrong. The reality was quite the opposite. Liggett Stashower had received a Request for Proposal(RFP) from a prospective client and needed our help to secure their business.
At the meeting Julie explained to us the steps involved in this process. First, the agency needs to gather a collection of agency credentials including case histories, creative samples, and a team video. This compilation is then sent over to a consultant to pick out the few agencies they feel could work best for the company on a given project. The prospective client then gives the finalists an assignment and proceeds to work with them on that assignment in order to get a better feel for how the agency works. Once all of these steps are completed, the client can make an informed decision about which agency they want to work with. In this instance, LS hopes to be that agency.
I had never heard of this method of choosing before and was interested to know all of the steps that go into it. It is different from the typical project pitch format I have studied in school. It seems we have our work cut out for us but I am looking forward to seeing how new business is born and the strategies that will get us there.
Our work began right away researching past campaigns of the client and its competitors. Morgan, Danielle, Abie and I began flipping through various trade and consumer magazines. The scene was comparable to girls in a nail salon, chatting while skimming the gossip columns. Although it was easy to get distracted by the articles we encountered, we did manage to pull several ads. The job also familiarized us with several publications we had no previous knowledge of, but will likely deal with during our careers in communications or graphic design.
Bonnie C.
Brand Management Intern
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