The Story Behind CMA’s Agency Search Initiative

Agency search is a hot topic. It is for agencies anyway. But an effective and fair process is also important for clients and the Canadian marketing industry overall. Considering how closely marketing effectiveness can be tied to the quality of partnerships between marketers and their communication agencies, the foundation of these partnerships is often an agency search.

To help match organizations’ marketing needs with the right agency partners, the CMA is launching a toolkit of best practices in agency search. The CMA is the only association with representation across the marketing world, including brands from every major sector of the economy, creative agencies, communications firms, research firms and other associations. We have the unique opportunity to develop search tools through a collaborative approach, with representatives of the client and agency side working together.

The Agency Search Toolkit is available on the CMA website and includes public and member-exclusive content. New content will be added on an ongoing basis, and includes a new, dedicated section in the CMA’s Code of Ethics & Standards of Practice on Agency Search, guidance on what to include in an RFP/Procurement brief, and advice specific to searches for the not-for-profit sector and for PR and media services.

We plan to keep refining and expanding the toolkit, drawing on the diverse experience of the CMA’s membership. We welcome your ideas feedback!