How to get the most out of your agency
This is a subject of a customised Big Stick seminar recently previewed at the North London & Hertfordshire Business Show. Below is a bullet point synopsis. Please contact Big Stick for a copy of the seminar in full.
- Don’t be afraid of new ideas. People eventually end up with the type of creativity they deserve. If an idea the agency presents scares you - that’s good. At least the consumer won’t say “same old thing!”
- Help the creatives understand what you are looking for by sharing with them the type of advertising you admire. Show or discuss samples of your favourite work.
- Ensure there is the degree of in-depth contact with consumers that will generate the insights necessary to turn the strategic benefit into a compelling consumer proposition.
- Develop a creative brief that summarizes the product and consumer learning in a comprehensive and stimulating manner. You must also brief the creatives, to ensure they have the ultimate understanding of the project, that will enable them to write great ideas.
- Get to know your creative team, trade novels, discuss films and new ideas in the media. This is an investment in time which will help you trust your creatives and help them trust you and want to do their best work for you.
- Creatives don’t write great ideas for a company, they do them for YOU and they want you to take risks for them. To do that you must know and respect the agency creative talent AND let them get to know and respect you.
- Good clients abandon the Us vs Them position. There is mutual respect and a desire to work as a team. You are willing to risk more, reach higher for someone who trusts your talent and intentions.
- A good client stands by their decisions and their agencies in front of their management. They allow at least one or two mistakes to happen in a long relationship. They know risk taking involves occasional pitfalls.
- Be the single point of decision making. Get whoever you need to get aligned, so you can speak as the one clear consistent voice to the agency and provide a constancy of objective.
- If you want clear, carefully thought out concepts, that inspire your target audience, allow enough time for the creatives to work on the brief.
- When reviewing creative work focus on ideas. Concentrate the energy of yourself and your agency on identifying new consumer ideas, conceptual and visual, don’t be distracted by the details of execution.