The top three expectations of agencies are: creativity (72%); research/insights (71%); and strategy planning (63%). The others are: integration of all marketing activities (46%); executional manpower (45%); and coordination of sales & marketing communications (36%).
The top-three most important agency functions are: shopper insight development (58%); strategy-based creative (55%); and design of point-of-sale materials (51%).
Other key functions include: account-specific strategy development (50%); messaging/advertising development (47%); evaluation/measurement (39%); communications strategy development (35%); and execution of communications (35%).
Lagging are: program sell-in (21%); environmental design (16%); and representation on account calls (10%).