agile5

I am lucky and grateful that during my business career I was given many chances to acquire unique knowledge and experiences from the best players, at the best companies, under the best circumstances.  As an entrepreneur in post-Perestroika Ukraine, as a Procter & Gamble brand builder on Tide, and as a VaynerMedia digital strategy SVP or the Head of VaynerMedia consulting running a portion of Gary Vaynerchuk’s digital agency - in all of those roles I was offered opportunities to learn, to fail, but ultimately - to grow. 

 

One of the benefits of having this experience is that now, after being on both sides of the fence, I deeply understand this intricate Client-Agency dance that many of the SMB and even Fortune 500 CEOs, CMOs and Managers are intimidated by. Therefore, I want to share with you in this installment of the STRATEGIC GOLD series a few practical tips that I formulated based on my observations of the inner-workings of the agencies that might help you select the right one for your needs.

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These 3 tips are focused on YOU as a decision maker, on the ideal agency STRUCTURE to support your today's pace, and on the agency's DNA to ensure you are clear about their core that frequently can be hidden behind a beautiful deck.  

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Tip #1: Remember, EVERYTHING that the agencies do and offer, you CAN understand.

 

There is no magic or a secret sauce here.  It’s all logic and common sense. And even the best creative interpretations are rooted in the crispiest and the most inspirational logic of an insight and a story. However, how many times I’ve seen brand people or even CEOs being intimidated by the confidence and the ease with which the agency people play with the industry jargon! 

 

CPMs, CPCs, CTR, PMPs, CPA, MTA, SERP, Zero Ranking, etc, etc. These terms DO sound scary…until you ask the person who throws them around to pause and to explain. And if someone who is selling you a service can’t clearly articulate what it is and how it’s done (logic and mechanics of it), the chances are that THEY don’t know or understand it themselves.

 

This means - do NOT engage! 

Thank the agency and go find another.

A few unpleasant moments at that meeting might save you many hours and thousands of dollars later. 

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Tip #2: Find an agency that is designed for SPEED.

 

Today’s communication is predicated on speed. I love how GaryVee puts it: “Quality is subjective, Speed is not.” Right now, for a brand to maintain a top-of-mind awareness among its target consumers, it has to be in every channel where the audience spends its time and attention…and the brand has to be there all the time.

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What does it mean from the agency selection criterion stand point? It means that you, CEO / CMO, must look for an agency that combines 4 elements under the SAME roof: (1) Strategy + (2) Creative Development + (3) Creative  Production + (4) Media Planning and Placement.

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Why under the same roof and not as a part of a holding? Because only when all of the above functions are incentivized as ONE team vs. each of them fighting for its own company’s P&L, only then they can efficiently focus on YOUR challenge, define and EXPERIMENT quickly with different solutions.

 

When I say “experiment”, I mean that the agency is able:

• To develop multiple, insight-based creative directions

• To produce them cheaply using their own production capabilities

• To plan and place creative into media channels using native tools and practitioner's expertise

• To generate results and analyze them quickly to inform the next cycle.

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This is what I call a Result Focused Executional Agility. This means that the agency is designed for speed.

Find such a partner and your life will become 100x easier.

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Tip #3: Ask the magic MAGIC QUESTION.

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What is one of the most abused words in the agency world…? Yes, you are right, it IS "strategy".

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Agencies are staffed with many very young, good intentioned, talented people. But very few agencies do take time to actually train their employees. The margins are low, the workload is high. Let the natural talent bubble to the top while churning through the less bright. That is why the average turnover rate in the ad industry is about 30% in accordance with ANA (for contrast, VaynerMedia was below 10%).

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So, knowing all of the above, what you, as a CEO/CMO, must be asking when meeting with a prospective agency?

The Magic Question.

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Whenever one of the presenters fires the word “strategy” at you, ask him/her: “Can you please define the term "strategy" for me? In your own words"…and then sit back and observe.

 

In 95% of cases you will not get a crisp answer to this fundamental question. People start dancing, coming up with fluffy, cliche or simply silly definitions right on the spot. Meanwhile, ANYBODY in advertising business must be thinking about this term daily, must be working on evolving their own definition of strategy striving to crystalize it. Why? 

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Because strategy is indeed a fundamental term here. Imagine, you are building a house and asking your construction manager “what is a foundation and what makes a good one?” and the person fumbles through the answer, unable to respond coherently. Would you entrust your investment and the safety of your family into the hands of someone like that? I doubt.

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Strategy is no different. Strategy comes first. Creative work stems out of the strategic clarity. Business growth itself comes from there. It is even more important today, when the number of channels and the volume of content is incredibly high and it is very easy to lose your brand’s identity without a North Star that shines the light on the map where the route is highlighted with the red marker for all members of the expedition to see.

 

If the seed is ill, don't expect a strong tree to spring from it.

Ask the Magic Question.

 

Want to know my definition?