What Marketers Want From Their Creative Agency (Part 2)

Last week I caught up with Tom Lucas, the much respected Marketing Director for UKTV, for a long overdue catchup, much appreciated mind meld, and afternoon caffeinating. I consider it pure luxury to be able to listen to seasoned clients discuss real world/right now challenges in a frank manner and their approach to filtering through the creative agency clutter.

I again thank Tom for his perspective, some of which I share with you here.  PS: Please don’t bombard him with blind inquiries. He was kind enough to let me present this on ABM, and since I’ll be sharing more of my chats with top UK & US marketers and I don’t want to be scaring them all off. Thankya.

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A Brief Guide to What Marketers Want From Their Agency (Part 2 of 3)
Missed Part 1? You can find that here.

Get a Grip on the Numbers

• Get on every email circulation list which disseminates performance data on your client companies.
• Read the analyst report.
• Get a copy of your client’s P&L, see where the marketing line fits in.
• Look at your fees from the FD’s perspective. Make it easy for him, demonstrate that the actual return on your endeavours outweighs the cost of hiring you.
• If you need to hire someone to do this, do it.

Don’t get the brief right. Get the right brief.

• Sometimes I think we get the wrong answers because we ask ourselves the wrong questions.
• “What is the single-minded message?” might be appropriate for a poster, but different consumer behavious and a new marketing paradigm demand new questions.
• In the digital age, a better question is “Why would I want to get involved?”
• Templates might make us feel comfortable, but sometimes we need to mix it up a bit.
• Let’s make the brief fit for purpose.

Adspend is the last resort

• Spend your client’s money as if it were your own.
• Exploit every last bit of owned or earned media. Audit the social networks. Find and arm the brand ambassadors.
• Only once your client’s brand permeates every possible realm of free media should you consider paying for it.
• And when you do, make sure you demonstrate that every penny is driving incremental reach and reaching the parts that free media can’t.

Don’t let the cracks show

• We like integrated solutions more than we like integrated communications groups.
• Solve our problem using the right channels. Present and deliver the answer, on time and on budget.
• Then tell us that you got your affiliate PR agency, online experts, econometricians on the case.
• Nothing underwhelms like a “360 solution” that isn’t a solution at all, so under promise and over deliver.

Be perfectly laid-back

• Work hard but appear effortless. Nothing rattles a client like an agency that looks worried. Our job is to make things difficult enough for you to be brilliant on our behalf.
• Be passionate, but never forget it’s only advertising- and there will be another idea.

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Look for part three, and the final bit from A brief guide… next week.

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