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.

“Courageous and fun” 

“A classic example of ‘what not to do’” 

“I think this advert is excellent” 

“An expensive vanity exercise” 

“This left me impressed and inspired” 

“It’s not risky, it’s stupid.” 

These people are talking about our Dullton & Hive campaign.  

I’ve never been prouder. 

Check out the case study here:http://lawtonware.co.uk/content.php?pageType=stuffwedidclient&id=16 

The RiFiver review here:http://www.ri5.co.uk/site/news/article/local-government-hr-ad-wins-may-ri-fiver/  

And some random blog rant here:http://www.carveconsulting.com/blog/index.php?title=brighton_aamp_hove_people_management_and&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

OK, so here’s the official picture of our win with Mike, Lance, Joel, David Mitchell and a nice lady. All looks very civilised. Happy client, proud agency, slightly bored host.

 What the camera didn’t catch was Mike Tamlyn, our Art Director, stealing both awards, declaring himself the ‘Art Direction’ Daddy and challenging other art directors to a trophy jousting competition to see who’s ‘really got the minerals’. He was last seen slumped in a corner, cradling the trophy and whispering something like ‘I don’t care if people say you look like a whisk, I think you’re beautiful, my precioussss’.

This picture was taken moments before he made off with both trophies.

Checkout our case studies section to see the award-winning work in all its glory.

So, interesting that the UK’s recruitment marketing sector is still so strong. Like many other agencies, we’ve actually had a very good 2008 so far and, whilst there are bound to be clouds ahead - we’re pessimistic by nature - it seems that organisations across the board are defying the doom-mongers and continuing to recruit come what may. Certainly the Association of Graduate Recruiters, for example, are reporting significant growth for the foreseeable future. And 75% of recruitment marketing agencies are predicting growth at least until the end of the year.

As the RBI’s Economist kindly said, either we know something the Chancellor doesn’t, or we’re just rubbish at forecasting. Time will tell!

In a nutshell, 75% of respondents put the quality of client service in the top 2 categories out of 5 giving an overall rating of 3.9 out of 5. Creative received 3.6 out of 5, our digital services a pleasing 4.05 and our culture (ie. what are we like to work with) a very wonderful 4.3.

Perhaps the most pleasing statistic, though, was that 91% of the respondents said that they would happily recommend us to someone else in the future.

So, some room for improvement without a doubt and we have certainly taken on board all of the individual comments that were made along the way. But, it’s great to feel that we are on the right track and thanks to everone who contributed. Your tenners are in the post.

With this mind, Claire, Rachel and Gemma headed off to Burger King to join their crew for a day. Relax, they were heavily supervised so that any food they produced was up to BK standards! They had a great day, pics are below and we’d like to thank everyone at Cannon Street for letting a bunch of account handlers cause chaos and a particular big thanks to Nana for excellent induction and Silvia for her limitless patience!

The awards will take place on June 19th in Billingsgate, London.

Bring on the love CIPD. We can take it.

Continuing our victorious evening, I beat Satty in an arm wrestle in the taxi on the way home even though she tried to cheat and use both her arms.