“The pharma giant asked as many as 40 agencies that comprise the roster to take part in the online process, which ranks agencies according to their proposed costs for different services. The roster, which oversees at least £5m in fees, is believed to include such agencies as Ogilvy Healthworld, Chandler Chicco, Huntsworth Health, Waggener Edstrom, Weber Shandwick, Red Door and Virgo.

The GSK reverse auction comes after the company ran a similar exercise last year to refine its European PR roster from 20 agencies down to 10. “The process is not dissimilar from other big pharma companies,” said one source from a participating agency. “As an industry we can moan about it, but it’s a reality.”

While GSK maintains using the reverse auction has helped them, participants feel the process “treat[s] PR like paperclips and printers,” in a bid to drive down expenditure.

A spokesperson for GSK rebuttals, saying “It’s not a Tesco-esque bullying of the little guy,” added the participant. “The real question is – is there business once you’ve gone through that? There should be some level of guaranteed business.”

What do you think?  Is agency work appropriate for the reverse auction?