How to get the most from your creative agency
An important mentor in my career is the co-founder of a major west coast advertising agency started in Seattle.
He once confided in me, “Clients get the work they deserve.” He explained that he simply meant clients could be their own biggest allies…or their own worst enemies…in the quest for great work. How right he was.
Organizations spend a lot of money on creative development and production. I’ve learned the hard way that the agency-client interface is one aspect of marketing that rarely gets managed well.
Perhaps it is why your own marketing results aren’t living up to their promise.
Three reasons creative breakdowns occur
1. Clients come to the table with too little direction
Many clients look to agencies to do all the heavy lifting, which kind of makes sense since agencies are typically paid quite well. Furthermore, selecting an agency can be tiring enough.
However, the real work begins after the agency is chosen. And the first job is to provide a simple and specific set of expectations as to what the work needs to do. As the client you should have a Marketing Focus Statement in place that describes your customers’ needs, how your organization fills those needs, and how you are different from your competitors. It should also describe what you do, how you do it, and why you do it.
Your Marketing Focus Statement will guide the agency from day one. And this is important – as the client, you must ensure that you have created acceptance from within your organization as to the validity of the focus statement. Don’t even engage with a creative agency until after you have completed this important work.
I have found that agencies are thrilled to have clear direction as it allows the first round of creative to be all the more on point.
2. Creative feedback lacks focus and purpose
Assuming that you provided a succinct focus statement directing the agency, they will then come to you with a number of potential creative directions. At that point, it becomes your job to ask the agency to refine the work in terms of how well it performs against what your focus statement requires.
Why are we using this tone? Why these colors? How does the messaging bring the focus statement to life? Does it capture the essence of your customer’s problems? Is it conveying your unique ability to solve the problems? Does it look like your competitors’ creative?
How will the concept be applied across all channels? Does the concept provide opportunities to match the message with various placements? For example, does it scream for outdoor? Is that good or bad? How will it work on the many assorted social channels?
Ask the agency to elaborate upon these questions so that you get a full picture of how deep you can take the messaging. Remember, your goal is to to get the most from your creative agency. Asking a lot of questions during this phase will improve the work…and make you happier and the agency happier.
3. Client approvals aren’t managed correctly
After all the work and due diligence has been done, you’ll finally have to secure approval from key members in your organization. This is the worst stage in which to have breakdowns, but they happen here a lot. Often, a board member or CFO will want to weigh in at this late hour. But the job of creative isn’t to make the CFO happy. What does your CFO know about marketing anyway? Do you ask your CMO about challenging accounting issues? No. So, don’t do the opposite.
All that matters is that the work does what your focus statement requires.
Make sure that your approval team only includes individuals who understand the focus statement, and understand that their role is in verifying the work performs against that focus statement. Personal opinions regarding colors or humor or copywriting don’t matter here. Nor do the opinions of individuals who are not marketing savvy.
CMOs and CEOs need to select the list of approvers very judiciously. And you must adequately brief the approvers on the focus statement.
Handled correctly, final approvals will not be a time for ambushes.
How to get the work you deserve – and want
Make sure you are paying close attention to the three sources of breakdowns mentioned above. Assign a staff member to be responsible. It can and probably should be your head of marketing.
If you don’t have someone ready for this role, then you can also hire a client representative. Similar to the role that a client rep serves in a construction project, an agency intermediary is specifically tasked with managing the interface between the agency and the client to ensure results.
Epilogue
Wind the clock back a few decades…
The staff at my mentor’s agency (mentioned at the beginning of this post) voted on their proudest work at their tenth anniversary party. One of the favorites selected was a spot created for me as a pro-bono client. (Note: If you’re curious, following is a link to the ad)
I was quite lucky to have had the opportunity to work with such a gifted creative team (including two young superstars, Cal McAllister and Pam Fujimoto). I also learned that even a pro-bono client can get excellent work if managed right.
How can I help you?
If you’d like to learn more about how to get the most from your agency, check out Iceberg’s Client/Agency Representation program. Or contact me directly. I’m always happy to help.