ANALYTICS,INSIGHT & MEDIA PLATFORMS

Whether propriety or from a supplier, the procurement of best in class insight, digital media and analytic tools is one that requires a complete understanding of the landscape and the marketplace. MPP have negotiated contracts with over 600 suppliers (locally and globally) generating £1m in savings and added value. Getting deals out of suppliers who are in monopoly and negotiating in these conditions is a specialism we have honed and perfected.

For the last 3 years we have been working on a buying and planning platform consolidation project which has changed the way an agency works from plan to pay across all traditional and digital/programmatic media. Needless to say the learnings have been massive.

REAL ESTATE

Irrespective of the size and type of company the Real Estate strategy has to be a fundamental part of the business plan.  We have been centrally involved in the creation of real estate strategies leading to the successful negotiation of over 3 million square foot of transactions across the UK.

This includes a single deal that took 24 months from an opportunistic enquiry to the signing of a lease worth almost one billion sterling. The procurement of best in class agents, project managers, architects, engineers, lawyers and various other services was a fundamental to the success of the project.

We have also created internal and external Facilities Management functions (both locally and nationally) from scratch that have subsequently generated in excess of £2 million worth of cost and efficiency savings whilst at the same time creating great working environments for all staff at every level and ensuring that the visitor experience is always perceived in the highest regards.

HR (L&D, RECRUITMENT, BENEFITS)

We continuously stress that we are not a bean counting consultancy who has one aim only and that is to reduce cost. by any means necessary. MPP has engaged in many successful collaborations with HR functions to ensure that L&D suppliers are contracted on very clear specification and in a way that ensures that the results and in turn their remuneration is measurable. 

We have created General and Specialist Recruitment Preferred Supplier Lists across all types of media, advertising and tech businesses via online RFP's that have standardised equitable terms and rates that ensure great quality candidates. 

We have worked with internal Benefit teams to create specifications that have subsequently been RFP'd to some of the best product providers, brokers and technology platforms. This ensured an intuitive array of easily accessible benefits and insurance products that still saved over £1 million.

CONTENT, DESIGN & PRODUCTION 

Procurement and creative businesses CAN work in a harmonious way. We have been responsible for collaborating with creative agencies and production houses on the creation of operational, procurement and commercial processes that as well as saving vast sums of cash, most importantly they have allowed the teams to get on with producing amazing work for their clients. Quite simply, we create freedom within a framework.

Our strategic thinking is all about creating the right mix of a preferred supplier list on best terms (from huge production houses to freelancers) slick but non-onerous operational procedures and commercial terms that allow the agency and the client to share in successful campaigns.

NEW BUSINESS,SALES & MARKETING

An area of huge opportunity that is grossly neglected by many agencies is using procurement expertise to assist in responding to RFP's and the creation of pitch proposals. Especially as most client pitches are now being run by Procurement.  We have liaised with new business and commercial teams on a number of high profile, successful pitch proposals. 

Another example of the intuitive and innovative methodology MPP deploys in order to add further value is where we have worked in collaboration with Commercial and Client Directors on opportunities for clients to become suppliers and suppliers to  potentially become clients.

Pitches can also be incredibly expensive if not managed rigorously and we have worked with many agencies to create a matrix that governs the investment in the pitch process based on the size of the revenue opportunity. Again, like working with a Creative agency, this ensures freedom but within a framework.

PROFESsIONAL & SUPPORT SERVICES

Particularly in smaller businesses and start ups who do not want to spend shareholder investment on non essential headcount, ensuring that the third party supplier base is fir for purpose becomes  more than a service, it becomes strategically important .

Services include lawyers, HR advisers, IT, Property Agents, Accountants, Auditors, Insurance Brokers, Health and Safety and a plethora of other services required by start ups and SME's.  MPP have built relationships with suppliers who understand the value of medium to long term partnership and would be willing to offer various services at vastly reduced rates with one eye on the fact that they would expect the business to grow in the future

In larger organisations, the opportunity is different based on spend and MPP  have yet to be engaged in any medium to large business where there hasn't been an opportunity to make a straight forward cost saving after fairly rudimentary RFP's. 

IT SOFTWARE AND HARDWARE

IT hardware and software procurement has become a key specialisation for every forward thinking business. MPP have been involved in numerous IT procurement projects including global instances of Microsoft, Salesforce, Workday, Workfront and Concur. All of whom use  tried and tested sales techniques but we always deliver substantial cost savings as well as added value (lots of free stuff.) All key contract terms were also fully future proofed. 

Other projects undertaken include the strategic analysis of in house versus near shore versus offshore of ad-operations, data centres and associated services as well as the negotiation massive hardware purchases with Dell, Microsoft and all the other usual technology suspects.

BUSINESS TRAVEL AND EXPENSES

We have never worked in a business where an FD or an FC is 100% happy with the policies, processes, visibility and control they have in relation to either travel or expenses.

MPP have created both local and global T&E policy's. These have been built around what is best for all invested parties from the traveller to the client the traveller is visiting and have been meticulously bench-marked against other like for like businesses.

We have negotiated local and global travel deals that have saved over £15 million via business travel agencies as well as negotiating directly with airlines, hotel groups, train and ground transportation companies.

Whilst managing corporate travel shouldn't be complicated, it can often become emotive. Companies have a duty of care to their staff. We are particularly innovative in making it all work seamlessly and we  know how to extrapolate best value.

PR, COMMS AND EVENT MANAGEMENT

Many of the larger agency groups or businesses we have worked with invariably have multiple brands meaning multiple PR suppliers and Event Managers.

We have worked with central Communications teams on the consolidation of PR companies into Group deals that have delivered £250k of cost saving and created an SLA/KPI model that ensures there is an element of the fees have a performance related element. 

Media and Advertising businesses by their sheer nature are huge consumers of functions and events. These can be internal, client, industry or a host of other reasons and rationale. MPP have collaborated with an agency and a partner to create a platform that helps source, select, consolidate payments, add on catering/entertainment etc. and also developed an algorithm that can be used for budgeting and forecasting purposes. This has saved in excess of £500k in Y1.