Agencies Working Better Together 
This guide aims to show how clients can manage multiple communications agencies to achieve better results.
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Briefing An Agency 
This guide aims to help anyone involved in briefing any type of communications agency on how to do it better. It explains the principles of any good brief, the reasons why a written brief is important but not sufficient, the role of the briefing meeting, and provides guidance on written briefing forms. With research conducted amongst over 140 advertisers and agencies including many of the largest spenders and agencies in the UK, this guide is an updated version of a joint industry publication originally titled, ‘The Client Brief’. It forms part of a series published by the leading industry organisations including IPA/ISBA/MAA/PRCA and this ‘Briefing an Agency’ guide has been led by ISBA in conjunction with MAA,PRCA and IPA.
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Communication Strategy 
Communication Strategy - A best practice guide to developing communication campaigns
Industry bodies IPA, ISBA, MCCA and PRCA have published the first joint industry guide to determine what factors contribute to the formation of a good communication strategy and to clarify which areas require more understanding to aid this development.
Communication Strategy was written primarily by Guy Murphy, Worldwide Planning Director of JWT, who maintains that what is needed is a holistic approach to planning how a brand engages with its audience. The guide also includes interviews with thought leading practitioners and provides 10 top tips for an effective communication strategy.
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Judging Creative Ideas 
The world’s first guide for Judging Creative Ideas is a joint industry initiative, arming marketing professionals with a best practice guide to assessing creative ideas from communications agencies.
The guide, authored by Patrick Collister, Partner of Creative Matters, for the IPA, ISBA, MCCA, and PRCA, explains how to know when you have a good idea on your hands, how you can help turn a good idea into a great one and at what point in the process do you need to be most involved, or to back off. It does this through a framework of shared criteria for closer, more effective client/agency relationships and for the creation of outstanding business-building ideas.
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Remuneration Guide 
This guide to Agency Remuneration is the product of a major joint industry initiative to identify common ground for remuneration practices between the IPA, ISBA, MCCA and PRCA. This 2012 version is an update to the original 2005 edition and takes into account the development of more complex and hybrid agency remuneration models as clients seek to provide more value-based efficient relationships. It also acknowledges the need for both clients and agencies to provide more flexibility in providing effective marketing campaigns on slimmer budgets and recognises the increasing role that procurement plays in the remuneration process. Contents include a ten-point remuneration checklist; descriptions of the principles payment systems; the difference between setting remuneration in a new relationship and an existing one; and an example of how to remunerate an agency.
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Evaluation 
The IPA, ISBA, MCCA and the PRCA have published their first Evaluation best practice guide, which outlines the latest thinking and learning on evaluation, and describes three key methods to use: time series analysis, regional analysis and competitive analysis.
The Evaluation guide, the third in the series of best practice guidelines published by the four trade bodies, has been compiled using insight from the first cross-industry research ever undertaken into how clients and agencies evaluate their marketing communications. The guide also offers practical tips and insights from leaders in the field of evaluation from each communication discipline and members of ISBA, and also discusses ways to evaluate beyond the typical short-term increase in volume of sales, such as brand value and non-consumer effects.
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Finding An Agency 
The five key trade bodies for the advertising, marketing, public relations and procurement industries - CIPS, IPA, ISBA, MCCA and PRCA - have collaborated to revise and update this best practice guide, which is designed to aid the agency selection process.
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Measuring Marketing Payback
Increasingly, marketing personnel are being asked to measure the effects of marketing and to demonstrate how it adds value. This best practice guide, produced in conjunction iwth ISBA, is aimed at anyone who wants to measure marketing payback in financial terms. It offers practical tips on measuring the effectiveness of activity and how to calculate the contribution to shareholder valueA best practice guide to developing communication campaigns.
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