SCOPE BLOG

Why measuring demand with capacity is so important for agencies and professional services firms.
Sitting down with visionary agency CFO, Chris Johnson, he talks about why matching demand with capacity is so important, yet generally ignored in the creative services industry.

Is your pricing strategy holding your agency back?
We need a new way of scoping; the current system is broken. This blog digs into why and how we as an industry need to shift our focus away from the cost of time and on to the value of what’s created.

Welcome to your Excel detox. We're here to help.
We need a new way of scoping; the current system is broken. This blog digs into why and how we as an industry need to shift our focus away from the cost of time and on to the value of what’s created.

Ripping up the plan
We need a new way of scoping; the current system is broken. This blog digs into why and how we as an industry need to shift our focus away from the cost of time and on to the value of what’s created.

How did we ever scope using Excel?
A new concept today will become commonplace tomorrow. In five years time, you’ll look back and wonder how you ever managed without it. In this post we look at one of the last frontiers of business process – the digital automation of scoping.

Agency pricing needs to be part of your Digital Transformation agenda
Pricing is key to business success so why is it not the responsibility of the top job holder in advertising and marketing services agencies?

The evolution will be productised
How deliverables are the key to moving from time and materials to value-based pricing. Agency pricing was something that just seemed so obviously wrong. When looked at intelligently, I believe strongly that it’s better to sell things, outputs and deliverables instead of marked-up time and materials. Let me tell you why and let’s also open up the options.

SCOPE vs. Excel - why ‘good enough’ isn’t good enough any more
“SCOPE just looks like a nice version of my Excel spreadsheet. Why would I switch when my existing process is good enough?” I’ve heard this comment enough times now to address it and write an answer to anyone else who might be asking the same question.

Scoping versus Workflow: Why scoping is different - and more important - than workflow.
Ten years ago the team at SCOPE was selling resource planning and time-sheet software to creative and marketing agencies and it was big business. Here’s why we believe that scoping fixes the problem of leaky profits far more effectively than managing workflow.

How selling deliverables can transform agency profitability.
Sell value, not time. It’s a mantra I’ve been hearing from agency mentors for the last seven or eight years. It’s not a new idea back in 2008, Coca Cola introduced a model to price deliverables based on historic data and their perceived value. Other brands...

Inspirational Women Leaders of Tech: Authority Magazine interview our CEO and Founder, Tracey Shirtcliff
Richard Branson, Elon Musk, a loyal team and lots of grit. Our founder and serial entrepreneur, Tracey Shirtcliff talks to Authority Magazine about the challenges of creating and running a successful tech company.

Agency Pricing: Why effective scoping and taxonomy are essential in delivering digital transformation and profit for agencies
In this article for Producers&Procurers iQ, our founder & CEO Tracey Shirtcliff talks about how implementing a common taxonomy and deliverable-based scoping for marketing and advertising services is transformative.

Attention Brands: Deliverable Based Pricing Is Here, Now What?
In discussion with Ad Tech Daily, our founder and CEO Tracey Shirtcliff talks about the shift to deliverable-based pricing and how this is the logical first step in moving away from the inefficient model of selling time.
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Overservicing shortchanges your clients and your agency. As I flick through some industry reports the relationship between overservicing and profitability comes sharply into focus.

Ignore new technologies at your peril if disruption is happening at break neck speed across industries: from Uber completely rewriting the taxi landscape to Airbnb reshaping the hotel stay, to Facebook creating more user-generated content

I’d like to think of myself as an entrepreneur, a maverick or maybe I’m just crazy. I built and sold a highly successful business that produced award winning software (Traffic & Traffic LIVE).

Scoping is more of an art than a science and one of the few agency processes that is still conducted in the dark, without commercial rigour .

Driving the digital and tech agenda Campaign Digital Mavericks celebrates women at the forefront of digital and technology innovation.

At the ISBA Annual Conference last week, we challenged our marketing and branding colleagues to estimate the number of jelly beans in a jar.

Agency software integration drives success. But how do you ensure your software is not making the task a messy and expensive one? GUEST BLOGGER Terry McMillan from integration partner Accountability Access explains.

Aperto One and SCOPE are coming together to host a lunch at ProcureCon Marketing, London on 12 June 2019. The theme for the lunch is “How much should you pay your media agency?

“As in the domestic sphere, in business we have a collective synergy to solve problems in unique ways.” I watched a video recently that struck a chord.

“…I bring a unique skill set, a different perspective, industry experience, passion and the belief that things can be done differently. “ We all know that agency life is exciting, fun, empowering and challenging, frustrating,

Jason talking to us about the value of SCOPE’s deliverable-based benchmark data to Oliver. Jason Bailis, Chief Operating Officer, OLIVER Global Markets

At SCOPE we trust in a shared implementation methodology. This is why.

In the office, building a scope of work often doesn’t follow a formal process. You can get away with it. Not so with home working.

Sell value, not time. It’s a mantra I’ve been hearing from agency mentors for the last seven or eight years. It’s not a new idea – back in 2008, Coca Cola introduced...

Last week the SVP, Growth at MediaMonks shared an article over LinkedIn (Stop paying agencies for...

Thanks to lock down I lost the need to commute to London. This gave me 4 hours back a day. Woohoo…. but it also stopped 90% of my work. Once I’d picked myself up off the floor it was time to really rethink what I wanted to do. Where do I get my buzz from?

Ten years ago the team at SCOPE was selling resource planning and time-sheet software to creative and marketing agencies and it was big business. Here’s why we believe that scoping...

“SCOPE just looks like a nice version of my Excel spreadsheet. Why would I switch when my existing process is good enough?” I’ve heard this comment enough times now to address it and write an answer to anyone else who might be asking the same question....

How deliverables are the key to moving from time and materials to value-based pricing.

Pricing is key to business success so why is it not the responsibility of the top job holder in advertising and marketing services agencies?

A new concept today will become commonplace tomorrow. In five years time, you’ll look back and wonder how you ever managed without it...

Creative Pool, the respected global creative industry network that connects agencies, brands and creative talent, features a Q&A with The Virtu Group Founder/CEO Tracey Shirtcliff in its “Leaders” section.

Adforum Magazine recently asked The Virtu Group Founder/CEO Tracey Shirtcliff to delve deeper into the concept of deliverable-based budgeting and the importance of ...

With marketing budgets being bandied about in CMO suites across the world right now, Advertising Week 360 Magazine asked The Virtu Group Founder/CEO Tracey Shirtcliff to...

Interview with Producers& Procurers iQ

Richard Branson, Elon Musk, a loyal team and lots of grit. Our founder and serial entrepreneur, Tracey Shirtcliff talks to Authority Magazine about the challenges of creating and running a successful tech company.

We need a new way of scoping; the current system is broken. This blog digs into why and how we as an industry need to shift our focus away from the cost of time and on to the value of what’s created.

Change, even if it’s for the better, is outside of most of our comfort zones. Despite knowing there are better ways of doing things, even the best of us can get stuck in a “better the devil you know…” mindset...