Myself and Mike recently had a meeting with a large local authority about their forthcoming contract and the framework agreement that was going to come with it – i.e. lots of other councils jumping on the massive negotiated discount.

Now, in a previous rant, I dismissed framework agreements as fundamentally flawed because their sole focus is to squeeze as much out of you for as little as possible, meaning that you can’t deliver a quality service and you’re limiting your options to a handful of major players.

But this was different. Firstly, we were actually having a meeting with them. This is unheard of. Most of the time, you get a massive document requesting tonnes of creative but with no hope of a brief or even a conversation about what’s being asked of you.

We talked about how we work, how we think a local authority pitch should be run, and they took notes! Yes, they took notes!! They actually listened to us. They didn’t fling us out the door when we expressed the opinion that maybe the cheapest possible supplier isn’t the most suitable.

Is this the start of something new? Are we looking at a different way of pitching for local authorities where they look closer at the agencies and don’t make their decision based on a mathematical calculation?

Imagine a local authority pitch process that involved in-depth consultation, agency days where you get a full brief on your project. Maybe site visits where they take the time to get to know you.

If this is a new dawn, I for one am very excited.

Finally, small agency and big agency can compete on a level playing field where it’s about the quality of the service and the product. Things are going to get very interesting for all of us, and the ultimate winners will be the local authorities.