On Monday How-Do ran a story explaining that PR agencies, some 250 in total, could be set to waste their time by applying for the second stage of the roster’s pitch process, before they knew whether they’d passed stage one.

Agency insiders explained that this could take up to a week to prepare for, only for all that hard work to be filed directly in the bin if the stage one application was unsuccessful.

However, in an email sent out to the interested firms yesterday, the COI stated that it would now emulate the hard work of the agencies by fully assessing both stages of the application.

The email read: “We still want you to provide: a 2-page response to the short PR brief we sent you; proof of required organisational accreditations; biographies of all your key people and details of your charging mechanisms.

“However, we are now making a firm commitment to you - and every other agency - that your response to this second stage will be fully evaluated.  

“The results of that evaluation - together with our assessment of your stage one submission - will inform our decision as to whether you are awarded a place on the new PR framework.”

The email went on to offer “feedback on your full application if you want it,” while stressing that the deadline for the stage two applications remained the same, 8 September.

Which, all in all, sounds like a (little bit of a) fairer deal to us.

Please contact How-Do with any other marketing or media ‘injustices’ you may be experiencing and we will try our best to fight your cause! 

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