UK ad agencies and trade body the IPA are appealing against the Government Cabinet Office’s recent shortlist to pitch for nearly £300m of government ad business.
The Government Procurement Service’s application procedure (to get on the shortlist) was apparently based solely on price (presumably an hourly rate or maybe 100 quid to make a commercial) and a number of agencies with long-term government relationships were ignored.
Well it’s all a cock-up obviously, as we’ve remarked before. Sir Hunmphrey’s eyebrows should be attached to the ceiling by now.
But it’s worth sharing this statement from the Cabinet Office with you.
Governments need to communicate effectively with citizens, and we want to make these channels of communication stronger than ever before. This framework will mean we can spend money in a more strategic and coordinated way than in the past, with confidence that we are extracting the maximum value from every pound spent, while continuing to deliver high quality communications programmes. A contract announcement will be made when this framework is finalised, after the successful completion of the mandatory standstill period.
Do they teach them this nonsense in PR school these days? Ignore everything everyone says and just repeat that you’re right all along?
The only word that seems to be missing from that statement, and it would be right at the beginning, is the new (dismissive) word of choice for all MP’s / Govt individuals at the moment – “Look!”. It seems to pre-empt any objections that an interviewer might pose and serves to confirm your closing sentence. Grounded in anything but the real world – self-serving @*%?$
Just see how many times you notice its use from now on.