Global marketplace StudioSpace is helping independent agencies bypass resource intensive pitches, for a comparatively low new business win.
On average an agency would need 14 months to recoup the cost of one pitch, for some this could take as long as 39 months.
With StudioSpace, an agency can be appointed in as little as five days, typically avoiding speculative creative work with standardised briefs, an established budget and the agency will only ever be shortlisted against two others.
More than 300 agencies,100 Australian based, are using the marketplace including Akeclo, Houston Group, Five By Five and Hopeful Monsters.
“Plus loads that you've never heard of which is kind of what we are all about,” StudioSpace’s Australian lead Robin Scarborough told AdNews.
Another resource drain for agencies is the onboarding process which can often take 3-6 months before agencies can actually start on a project.
StudioSpace removes that subjectivity for agencies and brands, Houston Group, one of the founding agencies utilising the platform, founder and CEO Stuart O'Brien said.
“The model is neutral and more cost effective than traditional pitches, so that we don’t waste so much time on bids and phone calls with potential clients,” O'Brien told AdNews.
“But the model is definitely still a startup, clients and procurement need to start using it more - because this project ready mentality is good for everybody.”
Today's marketing is more diverse and project-heavy than ever, simultaneously the industry has more independent agencies than ever - StudioSpace’s matchmaking service allows marketers to find and onboard a supplier easier.
“The independent specialist sector has more diversity and range than we had imagined, so we've embraced that,” Scarborough said.
“When we use the word agency, we mean that in the broadest sense - we’ve got everything from digital strategy, design, delivery, innovation and research, analytics through to all of the classic services you'd expect to find in the likes of the WPP Group.”
There are over 70 categories of agency services StudioSpace facilitates, except for traditional media buying.
“All the agencies we recruit are founder run and owned. We look for clear areas of depth and specialism in their kind of capability which do work with big brands. In terms of size we have small agencies to ones who've got hundreds of people,” Scarborough said.
Clients and agencies can use the marketplace for free, but after an appointment StudioSpace takes a 15% commission on the value of fees that agencies are generating.
And payment is typically faster than with clients.
“The payment terms have been great, especially being a small business getting paid is hard. StudioSpace does really well by removing the doubt of payment,” O'Brien said.
There are over 30 global brands on the platform, mostly big companies such as Jaguar, Land Rover, HSBC and Google.
They also work with challenger brands, but the bigger corporate businesses that have friction around procurement and want to enable flexibility find the most benefit on StudioSpace.
Perhaps the biggest benefit for brands is the single supplier contract
Since most large companies have strict rules around onboarding new suppliers and procurement, StudioSpace has set up its platform so that organisations only have to fill out one contract no matter how many different agencies they may work with.
“Businesses sign an umbrella contract once, then they can work with any of the suppliers we have in our network,” Scarborough said.
“Brands don't have the nightmare of onboarding a new supplier every time they want a different project with a different specialist.”
Often a specialist agency is being appointed to deliver a project alongside or as an extension to an in-house team or an incumbent agency.
One of the marketplace’s biggest clients has done 100 plus projects in a couple of years, from high-end strategic creative work to digital transformation work through to tactical, creative production.
Procurement is a really big fan of this model which enables flexibility and simplicity.
Because it's not unusual for a big corporation to have 100-200 suppliers in the marketing service category, which is hugely complex, costly and challenging for procurement to deal with.
“From start to finish, if the client wants, we onboard a new agency in five days,” Scarborough said.
“Whereas we know from experience it can take three to 12 months alone just to get through procurement as a new supplier. That blocks a lot of the opportunity for independent agencies.
“The brands we work with don't want to go through months of a long winded process and meet dozens of agencies and go through lengthy pitches - we give them the confidence to not have to do that.
“Choosing an agency when it takes so many months to onboard through procurement means you've got to get it right. We're enabling flexibility and speed so clients don't have that issue.”
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