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. Download the Communication Strategy Guide from this page.
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. Download the Judging Creative Ideas Guide from this page .
Remuneration Guide 
The Remuneration Guide is the product of a major joint industry initiative to identify common ground for remuneration practices between ISBA, the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising, the Marketing Communications Consultants’ Association and Public Relations Consultants’ Association.
The ten-point checklist was developed through wide-ranging qualitative research amongst marketing and procurement clients, and agency chiefs and finance directors, to identify the shared characteristics of ‘successful’ agreements. As well as the checklist, the guide sets out 7 principal methods of remuneration (plus two ‘hybrid’ methods) which are used across the industry, describing the key advantages and disadvantages of each. It also incorporates a 10-step process for negotiating agency remuneration. Download the Reumuneration Guide from this page .
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. Download the Evaluation Guide from this page .
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.
Download the updated Finding an Agency Guide summary from this page.
Download the updated Finding an Agency Guide full version from this page.
The Client Brief 
The four main agency and client trade bodies, the IPA, ISBA, MCCA and PRCA, have published new best practice guidelines for clients on the briefing process.
With a title of The Client Brief, these new guidelines come as a result of research undertaken by the industry in March 2003 which showed that the current briefing process is far from satisfactory with clients sometimes using the creative process to clarify their strategy or relying on their agency to write it. This wastes time and resource on all sides of the industry and results in less effective and measurable communications.
The Client Brief covers three main areas:
- Why write a brief.
- The principles behind a good brief.
- What a good brief should contain.
Download The Client Brief Guide from this page .
Practical interactive online briefing tool
This interactive tool is designed to help clients develop effective ‘best practice’ briefing documents for their communications agencies quickly, easily and for free. You will need to visit the website to use this tool.
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. Download the Measuring Marketing Payback Guide from this page .