Part Deux: Wear More Hats

Start building more capabilities into your agency or find a strong partner to share and collaborate with on a daily basis. The new advertising industry won’t be built around copywriters and art directors, but around designers and programmers. Agencies are going to have to find ways to get these people in one room together to work on clients. Agencies are already spread thin, but how do we get people to do more. The answer is hire people who can do more, who have more talent and capabilities beyond one role. These hybrid minds are going to be the ones who can understand how to build marketing in this new order. John Porter and Alex Bogusky talk about “baking in” the marketing right into the product. It’s going to require understanding beyond client budgets or media buys.

Wearing more hats also means having more capabilities in-house. Duh. If you have the diversity of intelligence and talents, invest in these capabilities. The less your agency has to split up the pie, the better. If you don’t do a lot of things, you are going to see your share of the pie getting smaller anyways. If you are known for great TV spots, but don’t have any strengths in package design, clients will go to someone who can do both. Digital media and non-traditional marketing are much less costly and have proven to be much more effective at reaching specific audiences. More importantly, every separate element of a product, from advertising to packaging to product design to customer service are all one in the same now.

One major issue that I have with agencies is their use of the same secondary research tools like Iconoculture or Mintel. Everyone is getting the exact same research. It would be like giving an artist the same three colors as every other artist. No, they are not going to end up with the exact same painting, but it will have the same shades and tones. It won’t stand out against those other artists.

What I’m saying is build your own research departments and make it part of your capabilities. Instead of giving money to someone else to find the insights make clients pay you to get the answers. Not only will they trust the answer more, but they will buy into the entire process more.

Push and grow with your clients to push and grow your own capabilities. Not unnecessarily of course. When it makes sense to repackage, repackage. When it makes sense to build a YouTube channel, build a YouTube channel. When you can do feel confident doing both (or a TV spot and mobile application), what client will turn away?

 Imagine if your agency was made up of just as many designers, developers, SEO specialists, anthropologists, behavioral psychologists, and statisticians as art directors, media planners, planners, or account people?  

Most importantly, build on mistakes. Don't be afraid to push the limit, to make mistakes. What you should be afraid of is playing it safe or not taking the time to recoup/rebuild/refocus your team after a mistake is made. If you clearly understand what went wrong, at which point in the process things went awry and why, it will be recognized the next time. The creative process (esp. with client interaction) is a tepid venture and there are plenty of moments where an idea can gain or lose steam, whether it's the best idea or just decent.