Big Tech + Big Pharma: 7 Procurement Lessons from the Bayer and Google AdTech Partnership

How should a 100 year-old pharma company partner with a tech giant such as Google?
Sharmeen Lalani-Fade, Global Procurement Lead for online media, creative and data for Bayer explains how they are partnering with Google to bring their Advertising technology (AdTech) stack in house.
The project is designed to connects the 'demand side' (Bayer's marketing campaigns) with the online advertising 'supply side' (websites that show as such as Google, YouTube etc) - without the need of advertising agencies.

"The goal of the project is to be less reliant on agencies and more accountable" says Sharmeen.

“The holy grail of procurement is cost transparency. When you're buying everything through a media agency, however good they are, they're just not built to give you transparency. “

There were challenges with 100 year old company trying to interface with a new breed tech company.

“Not all advertisers directly contract with tech platforms." says Sharmeen "It's a decision that a company can't really take lightly. It requires a great deal of upscaling of the organisation… marketing, procurement, accounts payable all need to go on the digital journey together”

As Sharmeen explains, the project "required a great deal of due diligence. You need to be prepared for some of the common pitfalls".

7 takeaways from the Bayer / Google partnership for procurement professionals.

1. Aim for a true strategic partnership
2. Educate yourself about the tech landscape
3. Help the supplier to understand your world
4. Ensure contracting processes align
5. Marketing effectiveness has to be measured in-house
6. With great data ownership comes great responsibility
7. Stay strongly aligned with stakeholders

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