When organisations stay with the same media agency for a decade or more, the relationship can become comfortable, but also predictable.
That was the situation for the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company, who had worked with their incumbent agency for in excess of 10 years.
While they were using a large global agency with a relatively small spend and still getting value, the client felt they weren’t getting the level of love and care they needed, and their media strategy had become more of the same.
Rather than jump straight to switching suppliers, they wanted to go to market properly – to test options, sharpen objectives, and ensure any change would genuinely improve strategic focus and day-to-day delivery.
That’s where ERA stepped in.
The Challenge:
One of the biggest risks in a media tender is comparing apples to oranges, especially if you’re considering a mix of small, mid-sized, and large agencies. The client wanted to explore the market broadly, but I highlighted the need to benchmark proposals back on an equal level.
Why? Moving from a major agency with significant leverage to a smaller agency that offers more hands-on service can look attractive, but you need a clear mechanism to assess whether you might be giving up buying power, capability, or value. So the team created an evaluation approach that combined two elements:
- Benchmarking: a structured way to assess responses consistently against agreed criteria
- “Free play”: giving agencies room to show what they would do with the brief, based on the media objectives, rather than forcing a cookie-cutter response.
The Outcome:
From there, the process moved quickly and cleanly:
- A long list of about a dozen agencies (including the incumbent and alternatives)
- Six agencies invited to bid
- Five full responses received
The result? The client chose a smaller agency – but one with decent buying power behind them, meaning they weren’t losing anything by moving. They gained a much more strategic focus and a more hands-on approach, and early feedback is that both client and agency are very happy so far.
How ERA Group can help
Many organisations want to test the market, but don’t have the time, resource, or internal experience to run a tender that’s both commercially rigorous and fit for a creative, strategic category like media.
ERA can support by bringing structure and methodology to the process, from writing the RFP and clarifying objectives, to building evaluation criteria that allows fair comparison across agency sizes.
In short, we help you run a tender that’s disciplined, comparable, and outcome-focused – without losing the creativity and strategic thinking that great agencies should bring.
