Why do clients choose to partners with agencies? It’s a question most agency folk have asked themselves asking at one time or another. Beyond the obvious access to creative talent and the benefit of outsourcing compared to internally recruiting, what value are seeking?
In any objective sense, an agency’s value is in telling their client the truth. About their customers. About their category. About their brand. It’s our ability to approach problems in a non-partisan way, unhindered by bias, past experience or internal politics, and reveal solutions true of the world behind the organisations shiny glass paned doors.
These truths can sometimes be hard to hear. Revealing something the client perhaps knew was there, but dare not acknowledge to themselves or their peers. In fact, the most revealing truths are often staring everyone in the face, but not seen as the opportunities they are. It can take a 3rd party to independently arrive at such a conclusion, illuminating its potential to form an idea.
But there can be a reluctance to accept this. And this reluctance, in fairness, is understandable. No one wants to hear their brand is too bland. Not exciting, or misguided. Another white sheep in the flock.
Such reluctance hinders change. Patterns are formed in which comfort zones, walled by individual tastes and opinions, become de facto and are considered untouchable, even in the face of contrasting evidence.
In turn, this can create agency attitudes that are reluctant to root out and reveal these truths. A culture of telling a willing client what they want to hear and, in turn, producing predictable work incapable of making the desired impact. It serves no purpose, and risks being little more than a transactional relationship.
It’s worth remembering that truths are just the start of the journey. There remains the challenge of finding interesting, distinctive ways of telling that truth to the outside world. Using it as a compass to guide a more vivid idea. Letting it percolate, grow and giving it a greater chance to resonate with a target audience.
Ironically, the best truths are those that even most of the outside world already know or have a sense of. Don’t dismiss them just because they seem obvious. It’s why we’re all encouraged to listen to ‘ordinary’ people (more on them here) to gain outside perspective. It’s how culture is shaped and influenced, and trends are created.
Sure, a client doesn’t have to act on the advice. It is their right to remain sceptical or unconvinced. It is the agencies job to convince them. Any discerning client should expect their agency to fight for a truth they strongly believe in, or have worked hard to find evidence for. The best agency/client relationships are sometimes fraught.
Wouldn’t it be refreshing for everyone ‘in the room’ to acknowledge all of this from the outset. Like a tablet carved in marble, taking pride of place in every agency boardroom — ‘we will tell you the truth, even if you might not like it’. Nothing particularly original, you might say, but an industry credo rather than any particular agency hook.
An entire industry built on trading in truth. That’s what we should all collectively be working for.
