CMDC Media Digest, 2015-2016

Searching for Better Agency Partnerships How can media and creative agencies work together to better serve client needs This is a question that Ive frequently asked myself and one that is coming up more frequently I freely admit that I dont have all of the answers however I do believe that the solution at its core is actually quite simple We in the communications industry are in the people and ideas business We create interesting and compelling ideas that persuade consumers to buy our clients products and ensure that the right consumers are getting the message Is it more complex and difficult to achieve today Of course it is But our industry is based on these core principles and as our clients agency partners we need to work together to achieve their goals So why is it when I talk to people in the industry about their experiences working with creative agencies or viceversa there are so few positive experiences It comes down to two main factors that prevent us from more effectively working together and therefore more effectively serving our clients revenue and idea ownership Revenue Over the last 10 years digital mobile has caused our industry to undergo a dramatic evolution and agencies have expanded their capabilities to keep pace Agencies are increasingly competing with each other in these digital arenas and each agency is concerned that someone else is trying to take away their piece of the pie Certainly we agency folk share a large portion of the blame but clients need to shoulder part of the blame as well Encouraging agencies to bring any and all ideas to the table in a jump ball scenario where the best idea wins only encourages more of this type of bad behaviour further leading to increased levels of distrust between agency partners Idea ownership Everyone wants to own the idea and agencies are paranoid about collaborating with their fellow agency partners to bring an idea to life when they dont have full control It always baffled me that creatives relinquish a large degree of control to a director on a video shoot but are less comfortable doing so when working with a media owner via a media agency partner On the flip side Ive also witnessed media agency folk completely uninterested in bringing a custom integration idea to a media partner mainly because it wasnt their idea to start with So what is the simple solution that gets everyone to a better place Here are six principles to ensuring agencies are working together to solve the clients objectives 1 The client sets three simple and rock solid ground rules a There is only one team we succeed and fail as a team full stop b Thou will work together collaboratively or we shall find a replacement partner who will c Each agency is responsible for a particular area do not mow each others lawn 2 All partners are briefed simultaneously 3 Establish a process in which people work together get in the same room present and debate ideas and actually collaborate 4 Ideas are presented back to the client as a unified team 5 Upon approval of a concept idea agency partners continue to work together to ensure the execution of the concept is realized and ideally improved upon 6 Campaign results are measured collectively not as part of their individual parts remember we all succeed or fail together While there are definitely clients and agency partners who already work together fantastically well there are a great many agency relationships that could use a bit of improvement I believe clients would be better off insisting their agencies collaborate more play with their defined role and foster trust between them How can we develop compelling ideas that persuade a consumer if we inherently dont trust each other The simple answer is we cant Adam Luck president Initiative 28 The Business of Media CANADIAN MEDIA DIRECTORS COUNCIL OPINION