Goodbye and good riddance to Best Practice Funding
Posted on September 20, 2007
Filed Under sem agencies | Comments
The most predictable announcement in Search Marketing leaked out earlier today, when Google announced that they are to end their Best Practice Funding (BPF) after next year.
The BPF was introduced in 2006 after Google scrapped the 15% agency discount. It was brought in with the right intentions: partly as a parachute payment but mainly to incentivise search marketing within agencies and to provide them with funding for skills and technology.
Unfortunately it's been horribly abused by some advertisers and agencies. Too much business is won by the size of an agency's BPF % and not by the quality of the services that they offer. It's been holding back the whole sector.
The BPF turned out to be a subsidy that could be used to hide poor service and inadequate technology. Like any subsidy, it distorted the market and retarded progress. My only complaint is that Google has kept it going through 2008; it should have been scrapped at the end of this year.
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