Working with an agency on an in-store buy
An agency planning an in-store buy is frequently applying frameworks built for digital or broadcast to a channel with different mechanics. That is not a criticism; it is a consequence of the channel being newer to most planning teams than the others on the plan.
Establishing the differences early prevents most of the friction.
What transfers from other channels?
The planning discipline, the negotiation, the creative process and the measurement rigour. Those are general skills and a good agency brings them to any channel.
What does not transfer is the specific mechanics: loop and slot arithmetic, store-level activation, uptime, and the relationship between media and distribution.
Where do the gaps usually appear?
In treating impressions as comparable to digital impressions, in ignoring the distribution constraint, and in planning by geography rather than by store list. Each produces a plan that looks conventional and misses the channel's actual mechanics.
The distribution one is the most consequential. A media plan for a product that is not in the stores is a problem no amount of media skill fixes.
What should the brand bring?
The distribution data, the store list, and the trade calendar. Those are brand-side facts an agency cannot obtain, and a plan built without them will be built on geography instead.
Providing them early is the single most useful thing a brand can do for the quality of the plan.
Who should own measurement?
Ideally somebody independent of the buying decision, with the design agreed before the flight. An agency measuring the effect of its own recommendation is a conflict that a pre-agreed design substantially mitigates.
That is a normal arrangement and it should be established when the relationship starts rather than when a result is disputed.
What should be in the brief?
The objective, the distribution constraint, the store list or the basis for building one, the measurement design and the decision the campaign informs. Five elements, and the middle three are the ones frequently missing from a brief written for a different channel.
How should the network relationship work?
The agency transacts and the brand should still understand the network's mechanics. A brand that cannot describe loop length, slot share and uptime is relying entirely on two intermediaries to evaluate a channel.
What about fees and transparency?
The usual questions apply: what is bought principal, what is bought agency, and what the fee basis is. They are no different here and they are worth asking explicitly because the channel is less familiar.
Frequently asked questions
Should I brief the agency or the network?
Brief the agency and make the network's mechanics part of the conversation. A brand that goes around its agency creates a coordination problem without solving the knowledge one.
What if the agency has no experience of this channel?
Say so openly and work through the mechanics together. An agency willing to learn the channel is more useful than one applying a digital framework confidently.
Who should build the store list?
The brand, from distribution data, with the agency and network refining it for media efficiency. It is the one input that cannot come from media expertise alone.
How should measurement be agreed?
Before the flight, in writing, including the design and the threshold. Agreeing it afterwards allows the result to select the method.
Does the agency need store-level data?
To plan properly, yes, at least at the level of which stores are in scope. Without it the plan is built on geography.
What about creative?
Whoever produces it should design for the medium rather than adapt from another. Adapted creative is the most common cause of unreadable in-store executions.
Should the agency negotiate make-goods?
Yes, and the mechanism should be in the plan. It is a normal commercial term and it depends on delivery definitions the agency should be asking about.
How do I judge whether the plan is good?
Whether it specifies stores, delivery, creative, measurement and commercial terms. A plan covering those five is a plan; one without them is a proposal.
What is the most useful question to ask an agency?
How this channel's mechanics differ from digital. The answer tells you how much of the channel they have actually engaged with.
### What should the first meeting cover?
The channel's mechanics, the distribution constraint, the data available and the measurement design. Those four differ most from the frameworks the agency will bring, and establishing them early prevents a plan that has to be rebuilt.
It is also the moment to agree who provides what. The brand provides distribution and store data; the agency provides planning and negotiation; the network provides delivery and reporting.
Writing that split down takes ten minutes and it prevents the common outcome where each party assumes another is handling the store list.
Should the network attend?
For the mechanics conversation, frequently yes, because they can answer questions neither the brand nor the agency can. The commercial negotiation is a separate meeting.
How should performance be reviewed?
Against the plan's own specification rather than against a general impression. A review that reconciles delivery, creative and measurement to what was agreed is considerably more useful than one that discusses whether the campaign felt successful. Industry standards work is discussed by bodies such as the IAB.
Should the brand attend network meetings?
For the mechanics and the measurement design, frequently yes. Delegating the entire relationship means the brand's understanding of the channel depends on two intermediaries.
How should the agency be briefed on distribution?
With the data rather than a description. A store list and a stocking status file are worth more than a paragraph about where the product is sold.
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