There’s nothing less transparent in the agency world than account reviews and new business pitches. It’s a labyrinth of consultants, PowerPoint decks, pitches, and maneuvering of all kinds.
But on Thursday, Jordan Kretchmer, Vice President of Brand for The Current Network, turned the whole agency review process on its ear with a TwitteRFP, calling for agencies to toss their names in for consideration via Twitter.
I’m not in management or a new business muckety-muck at my agency, Partners + Napier, but what I am is a regular viewer of Current TV and a video content contributor to their website. So I sent Jordan a note saying how much I was a fan of the brand and that my agency could handle both its brand and social media needs. He responded quickly. Turns out, among other things, he was familiar with our Kodak videos featuring Vincent “Big Pussy” Pastore.
This morning, I found out that Jordan added P+N to his first shortlist. Which definitely got the rest of my agency stoked–and made this copywriter look good for a day. There will be more agencies on Jordan’s shortlist over the next couple of days, and my understanding is that the list will be further culled from there. And I’ve watched as agencies of all types have vied for Jordan’s attention via various methods of Twittery. The process has just started.
He’s become quite a popular dude this week. And he’s got Adweek’s attention. It’s no accident Jordan has an agency background. I guess it takes someone who knows the system to change it.
So thanks for shaking things up, Jordan. I certainly hope you keep up the transparency and your sanity through the process. And here’s hoping we can work together.