Less than 15 percent of the communications executives surveyed for the study said that they consulted such sources as trade media, online search engines, agency search platforms, professional societies or agency search consultants to help them find an agency.

“Few organizations use a comprehensive search process or search tools and consultants for agencies, which would be standard practice for individual hires,” said Steven Drake, principal of RFP Associates, which produced the report along with CommunicationsMatch and Researchscape International.

Read up on the results at O’Dwyer’s