The client/agency relationship matters more than ever
In working on The Drum’s Creative Cities Seattle project last year, it was hard not to notice the relationship between the two main players on the project: PB &Seattle and Visit Seattle. In many meetings and conversations with Britt Fero, principal at PB& and Ali Daniels, chief marketing officer of Visit Seattle, a few things stood out in the best possible ways.
New webinar: The costs of a broken creative process
First, the openness in which they communicated with us and each other. At times, conversations between clients and agencies can be guarded — and that’s where some of the avoidable issues between the two can come up. In the case of Fero and Daniels, the conversation was free-flowing and never got too far off the topics at hand. We knew that there were many moving parts to this project and we never lost sight of that.
To that end as well, it was clear that focus played a pivotal role. The great bedfellow of focus is clarity. In our case, a clear pathway, allowing for creativity but without distraction, made a big difference. It could have been easy for things to go off the rails at several points, but that focus was a critical component to success.
Finally, there was tremendous candor. A key thing about directness is its intention and how it’s delivered. When honesty comes from a place of teamwork, knowing that everyone is seeking the same goals, telling it like it is can go a very long way, not merely in projects, but in a more rewarding relationship. We were all aligned on the KPIs of this project from the very beginning, and we agreed that being honest with each other was important.
What’s most exciting about this experience and Fero and Daniels’ relationship is that they are sharing their perspectives on May 22 in The Drum’s webinar with OpenText Hightail: The Cost of a Broken Creative process. Throughout the hour, they will share their honest opinions about the client/agency relationship and how it can be grown and maintained. Additionally, data points will be shared to illuminate the context of the conversation.
Bringing an agency and client, with a long, distinguished history, together like this doesn’t happen often and we invite you to join the conversation with us by signing up for the webinar here.