How to Improve Client/Agency Evaluations and Achieve Greater Accountability
The 8 Critical Obstacles: Traditional ways of conducting agency evaluations are no longer working. Old-fashioned evaluations are no longer providing clients and agencies the insight needed to manage their partnership effectively. To move towards 100% mutual accountability, these partnerships demand better data, greater insight and more actionable information that can enhance their work relationship. Here’s […]
What Great Clients do to Turn Their Agencies Into Powerful Growth Engines
What Will Make You a Kick-Ass Client Are you the kind of client that agencies desperately want to acquire and retain? Do you know what it takes to be a great client? In “Think Different,” I emphasized the unique qualities industry leaders like Apple exhibit with their agencies to get outstanding work. In “How Clients […]
The Uneasy Truth About Being a Client and What It Means to Building Lasting Partnerships in Today’s Cut-Throat Environment
Confessions of an Ex-Client I’d like to confess. Actually, I have multiple confessions to make. Four to be precise. No worries. This is not a remake of “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind” (2002), so they won’t keep you up at night. But if you’ve ever been a client, you too would have much to say. […]
Top 5 Client Qualities That Contribute to Better Work and Long-Lasting, Productive Partnerships in the Era of Client/Agency Speed Dating and One-Night Stands
Download a print-friendly version here “L’amour est-il mort?” (“Is Love Dead?”) French writer, poet, aristocrat, journalist and pioneering aviator Antoine de St-Exupéry once said: “Aimer, ce n’est pas se regarder l’un l’autre, c’est regarder ensemble dans la mêm direction.” (Translation: “Love doesn’t mean gazing at each other, but looking, together, in the same direction.”) Applied […]
4 Common Myths That Keep Even the Best Advertisers From Turning the Mania of Client/Agency Relationships Into Screaming Brilliance
Download a print-friendly version here Admit it: We are all Maniacs! Most of us are maniacs. If you read this, it probably means you are too. If you are in a leadership role in a Fortune 500 organization, or support one, chances are you are challenged to keep up with the rapid transformation of the […]
How Brand Advertisers Can Produce More Strategic Client/Agency Performance Evaluations by Making Them Truly Actionable
Download a print-friendly version here Sixty percent of the time, it works every time. “They’ve done studies, you know. Sixty percent of the ti me, it works every time.” This is the famous line by Brian Fantana, the anchorman with a dark mustache and coworker of Ron Burgundy. In the 2004 film “Anchorman: The […]
What We Learned From This Year’s State of Client/Agency Relationships and Five Easy Steps Towards Highly Productive Partnerships that Yield Greater Performance
Download a print-friendly version here The Day I Met Elvis the Pig I met Elvis the pig at the HQ offices of Tyson Foods/Hillshire Brands Company in Chicago. A sign next to the 500-pound bronze statue of a pig explained that it was named by Jimmy Dean, the legendary country singer and founder of the […]
Five Lifelong Lessons From Legendary Catalonia’s Human Tower Traditions That Clients and Agencies Can Apply to Ensure Highly Effective Engagements
Download a print-friendly version here Lessons in Collaboration from the Human Tower It’s the most amazing sight: a human tower of Castellers wearing white trousers, a black sash, a bandana and a colored shirt bearing the team’s emblem coming together into a multi-tiered structure of up to 10 people high from the ground up. You […]
Five Proven Ways Brand Advertisers Can Ensure Top Alignment With Their Agency Partners, Remove Roadblocks and Get Outstanding Work
Download a print-friendly version here How to Avoid a Deadly Mexican Standoff with Your Agency “How did we get ourselves in this situation in the first place?” you might wonder. You are not alone. Brand advertisers often get themselves into a dead-end situation with their agencies: they are not getting the type of performance they […]
Committing to Reciprocal Feedback Before Making Agency Review Decision
Download a print-friendly version here Le Divorce I’ve been told all my life that everything sounds sexier in French, from ordering wine from the Bordeaux region at the dinner table to whispering “c’est la vie” after missing a connecting flight. Almost everything I might add. There are some words that, no matter the pronunciation, still […]
