Consideration No. 1.Why should an event agency carry out marketing work if the business is built on the ability to “negotiate” with the right people? This is quite pointless, since it reduces the income of such a company, because you have to spend money on a website, souvenirs, a carefully selected portfolio of projects, etc. If the project can be completed without these costs, it is better to save money.
Consideration Nr 2. Why does a “kickback” event agency need a permanent staff of professional employees? This is also an extra expense. It is enough to have an accountant and one or two managers on staff who can hire enthusiastic freelancers for projects for minimal money. The project, formally speaking, will be implemented. There is no need to worry about quality, since freelancers change and it is also easy to establish a new agency.
So how to recognize corruption in the event business? As you can see, it's not very difficult. It's all about marketing and in state employees.
A way to recognize corruption Nr 1.
Agencies that do not pay kickbacks are forced to win Clients. They print brochures, speak at public events, participate in ratings, publish articles, and maintain blogs. They have no other way than to win Clients in a public fight. And so they quickly become noticeable.
If a large organization hires an unknown agency, there is probably a personal interest from someone on the purchasing committee. Alas. Because otherwise an unknown agency could be concerned with its own image, participate in ratings, awards, create a website and publish previous works. It’s not difficult at all, you just need to start working with small organizations and do at least something.
And there is no need to talk about the victory of creativity over experience. Experienced agencies are not only much more creative, but also safer in their decisions, because they know exactly what they can implement. Agencies care about their reputation, as it is their main asset and the result of previous investments in marketing. Will the purchasing department risk a big budget for a creative idea? Small - maybe, but if we are talking about serious events, then it is very unlikely.
The event market is so empty that “real” agencies know each other very well and know the projects for which they are really fighting. And event managers on the customer side, having at least a little knowledge of the market, also know these agencies. “Kickback” projects take place in silence, without inviting leading agencies to participate. “Their” agencies win because in a fair fight they have no chance against the leading agencies.
There are not many real agencies - about a couple of dozen. Everyone knows them. And if none of us are included in your organization’s tender, you understand everything about this tender.
A way to recognize corruption Nr 2.
Real agencies have long-term development plans. They are concerned about their reputation and therefore attract good specialists and spend money on their training and development. If an agency works well, it gradually grows and its staff increases. There are employees who work at the agency for a year, two, three... Agencies pay them salaries during the off-season and pay taxes on those salaries. In order for specialists to work, they need an office and a workplace, which is called fixed costs.
“Kickback” agencies do not have any of these expenses, because such an agency assembles a team of freelancers “for a project.”
How will freelancers work? Unknown. Some of them may work well, may work poorly, may abandon the project in the middle, or may not come at all. But this will become known only towards the end of the project. And at the tender stage, the team that is going to be formed from freelancers will always be much cheaper than a team from permanent agency employees.
So, real agencies will be guaranteed to lose reductions to “rollback” agencies.
There are not many real agencies - about a couple of dozen. Everyone knows them. And if none of us are included in your organization’s tender, you understand everything about this tender.
