Management Schizoprehenia!

Following last week's question, I saw Tom Fishburne's cartoon of the 8 types of manager. I think I should have warned my new team that I am all these types!

Heeding The Warning Signs Early

I am tearing my hair out about a situation at work. Our Group Account Director has moved a senior account director onto our account. I have just been appointed an account director and instead of overseeing my area and another account director’s, she is spending all her time on my side as she has little experience in the other area. She is arrogant, insensitive and keeps saying things about my performance. It is starting to make me question my work which was never the case before. I have spoken to the GAD who I get on well with but he is burying his head in the sand and hoping the problem will go away. The account director agrees with me but she is not affected. It is getting worse because the SAD is disrupting the team and saying things which imply that they are not doing their job (not the case) and that we should all be lucky that she is on the account to sort it out. As the client has said that things do need to improve, she does need to sort things out but she is going about it the wrong way and targeting the wrong people. She is a total nightmare and it is driving me to the daily feeling of not wanting to go into work. Help me! What can I do?

A very difficult situation but not uncommon. Your last point is very worrying and that sounds as though you could decide to leave your job because of another person’s incompetence. That’s why I am going to assume a few things and recommend an urgent course of action.

First of all, you need to discuss this with people outside the agency. Just talking about it will act as a bit of therapy but probably better with people outside the business. Make sure you are reading the situation correctly and feel comfortable talking about it a bit more objectively (well as much as you can). Get other people’s views. Also the more you see it as a business issue rather than a reflection of your status, you won’t be so sensitive to the daily interactions with her and you won’t get wound up so much.

Now my next course of recommended action is a very strong one but desperate times call for extreme measures. You will need to feel comfortable with the idea because you will be under the spotlight. However my instinct tells me that if you do not do something now then you will become even more miserable and the account could be put in jeopardy. And the latter point should be your angle. I suggest that you get the support of the other account director who can vouch for the fact the SAD is only doing one part of the job and is upsetting the team. Then convene a meeting with your GAD and Client Services Director (and/or HR depending on structure) and lay out the facts: you seriously believe that her remaining on the account could put the account in danger, the team dynamic is being disrupted and you are so unhappy that you are questioning your future.

This is something you may resist because it is quite hardcore but they obviously rate you as they have just promoted you and would not want to lose you. And most importantly for the CSD and GAD, it will highlight that the account is in jeopardy. Otherwise you could just bury your head in the sand like your GAD and post something on ihatemywork.net (yes there are some very bitter people out there).Good luck!

Thanks to Matt Frederick for the photo

Pulp Fiction

A former colleague was talking to me the other night about a situation he had that day, namely a big mistake his team was trying to rectify before he had to tell the client. It is too complicated and delicate to elaborate on here but it was reinforced by the story about the American author, Jonathan Franzen, finding out that the English version had printed from an earlier draft and not from the final approved version.

Franzen found this out last week as he was being interviewed and after he had been asked to read a passage from the book. This quite serious author, a contender for the mantle of successor to Updike etc, was not happy – understandably so as he had spent the last 8 years getting it just right. This version of the novel has now been pulped and a partial recall has been made. The Saturday press was full of publishers saying that they were glad that it had not happened on their watch and how sorry for the person who had pushed the button on the wrong version.

In reality I wonder whether in this exceptional case – as within days English readers already have the right version on the shelves – whether this added publicity will not but work in Franzen’s favour. However it reminds us all, in our world of quality checks, version control, and potential nightmare scenarios, that we live in a very fragile world.

We are being told by our crisis management experts in PR that we should expect the worst, plan for the eventuality and be as transparent as possible when it happens. If I were a client and my agency had messed up in some way, I would expect honesty, contrition and fast thinking which could lead to a potential resolution. I would want my agency to stand up and do whatever it took to sort it out. I would not want to find out initially from my colleagues or suppliers. I would not want information withheld – I would need it all in order to manage communications to my colleagues.

So honesty and speed are key. There are times when things are withheld because issues are resolved without having to involve the client; to some extent, that’s why the client pays us to manage a project or campaign – we can take a lot of the pain away in this respect. Yet you have to be sure that it will be not detrimental to the relationship if the client finds out.

Speed is an obvious factor but things become slower when it is not clear whether the fault lies and there are large financial implications in the potential resolution. This is where you will have to involve the client and your MD.

Unfortunately I don’t think my friend’s situation will turn out as successful as Jonathan Franzen’s. All disasters will be different according to the specific circumstances so it is difficult to comment further. Nevertheless what is clear to me from the advice from crisis management experts is that any managers of agency businesses should be scenario planning already – particularly in the areas of data security, client campaign implementation and actions from ex-employees.

Premium Service

I saw last week’s question and answer and wanted to make an observation. We had a review on a major account and we also had a top score but the client seems to have got even more demanding and I am worried that we will not maintain our score next time as the team are taking a bit of battering from a barrage of unusual requests.

I was talking to my team about this only this last week. Customer service has thresholds like learning a language. Whereas the uninitiated think there is an ultimate pinnacle to learning a language - where you think you will be a 100% fluent at the “end”, it is just like climbing an infinite mountain range. You reach a summit thinking that is the top then a new one comes into view. You become conversant in contemporary Italian but then you realise you don’t know a whole tranche of words to allow you to order your new kitchen.

Likewise, great customer service sets an even higher expectation. I noticed this when I was fortunate enough to stay at the new Soho House in Berlin. Wow, what a great place – they have spent a lot of time and effort to make those staying with them feel very at home. They have made sure it is a great customer experience. Every bathroom cosmetic possible, individually styled rooms, staff ready to act on every request. So then it makes you start asking for the unusual. And more pertinently, when something that you think would be a basic hygiene factor (in my case, light enough in the bathroom to have a decent shave – not the mood lighting which thwarted me), you get a bit petulant. This is what happens when you, as the service provider, raise the stakes or are acknowledged as a provider of a premium service; your customers or clients expect more and/or want more.

So my advice would be to involve the client post-review, get a sense of what you should be focussing on and understand whether these requests will keep on coming. If so, you should make her/him aware of the practicalities of delivering them while delivering “business as usual” activity. They may not be consciously doing this but at least a conversation will help them understand what trade-offs need to be considered.

Keep Keeping On

We have just had an independent agency assessment commissioned by the client and we got an amazingly good score. We have worked really hard to get this. What do we do next to keep things so positive?

First of all, congratulations. It is a phenomenal achievement in these times. I don’t know how long you have had the account but considering you are as only good as your recent history, this is very good.

Something very important is to make sure all the team and agency are aware of the results. You should be openly celebrating such success so people understand how the account leads and/or management are appreciative of such results. It may sound obvious but in these busy times it is often put aside to get on with more pressing matters. Party and enjoy the moment.

Thinking of how to continue the momentum:

1) Share the detailed results with the wider team so they know what they have achieved and - focusing on the future - in order for them to grasp what is working and what needs to be improved. I think this should be done face to face so various aspects can be debated.

2) Talk to the other agencies who have been assessed so you know where you stand in the ranking and what they have to concentrate on. OK they may not tell you everything but there may be some common ground where you can combine forces and help each other and the client.

3) Be very clear what is working and what needs to be worked on. Put together an account plan which picks up on these areas and make sure that management sign up to it as there could be some resource or cost factors which you will need approval on.

4) If there have been a number of clients inputting into the assessment, make sure you thank them for their assessment (it doesn’t cost anything but it makes them feel part of the success).

5) Make sure you merchandise this with other contacts in the business who you do not work with. It could have a positive effect.

6) Don’t rest on your laurels – it is a very fickle, competitive marketplace. Put quarterly checks in place for monitoring the progress. And make sure you keep keeping on with the good work.

Pop-Up Post

I have been off a few weeks under the guise of cycling in France though actually wine-tasting seemed the major activity. In one of the few serious cycling moments in the Alps, trying to juxtapose my successful performance up the 1400m ascent from Morzine to Alvoriaz with Lance’s pitiful efforts on this stage where his chances for the Tour were blown, I was thinking of the Rapha pop-up shops in London and New York. (yeah if we rewind on that last sentence - people with any knowledge of cycling will know that I cannot compare a morning’s ascent up a big hill with the three weeks of gruelling effort which those riders put in - but hey that’s how us wine-tasters see things.)

Anyway when I felt my lungs were not going to implode and I had taken enough Class A energy gels to get me to a point when I could drift off into inner thought, the success of Rapha, the cycle brand, was on my mind. I have mentioned them before in a previous post but for an online brand they just don’t seem to be putting a foot wrong in either virtual or physical worlds.

The challenge for any brand which does the majority of its business online is to make itself visible and tangible to its prospects and customers beyond its website. Rapha have an easier task as the visibility of cyclewear can do this for them but they have not stopped there. This summer they decided to launch temporary shops in London and New York. These were less clothes shops and more like meeting places for cyclists with a coffee shop on-site, an exhibition space, access to tv coverage of various cycle races and yes a few Rapha products to sample and purchase.

I think Antidote designed the space in London and it took the passion, history and beauty of cycling and brought it to life as part of the Rapha brand experience. Also the essence of a pop-up shop makes the visitor feels they are living on a precious time and it gave me a very privileged feel for I was lucky enough to be working around the corner whereas I know there are a number of cycle enthusiasts in Sheffield or Manchester who would have loved such a space.

Yet I think a lot of other brands can learn from the way they approach things. It does not have to be “enthusiast” brands which only operate in this way. It’s the vision of the brand owner not to be boxed in online and the ability to tap in to other brands and experiences which target their customers. I notice that Rapha is now teaming up with Paul Smith on some clothes designs and have just produced some short films with Ridley Scott. Going back to basics, it's just about servicing your customers in the way they want to be treated and surprising them with what will delight them. But how you do that differentiates you from the competition.

I also spoke to James Fairbank on the last day of the London shop. He is in charge of Rapha marketing and he told me that it had been a big success – both in terms of sales and as a brand extension. I am not surprised – they definitely get my vote.

Coming Up For Air

It’s nearly a year since I started Openmike so I had a look through a few posts to work out what I had learnt.

My first post was on the 20th July with Prêt à Porter which, considering I was just wanting to show a bit of initial lightheartedness, seemed to hit a serious chord with people. In fact I have been in two recent conversations about the subject of work attire where I was representing the more liberal viewpoint. And funnily enough I don’t think whether you see contemporary lack of formalwear as abhorrent or something to be aspired to is anything to do with age. As I said most pretentiously in the post, we live in post-modern times.

Quite a few questions this last year relate to the account handler’s relationship with the creative department and the ensuing frustrations. That tranche of questions can be found here and you need to check out the A Few Good Men spoof which I have only just recently come across.

The business book I most enjoyed reading was Jon Steel’s Perfect Pitch, about the drive for new business, and I was glad that I had the chance through email to tell Jon directly how good that book is.

Doing the blog has opened my eyes to other blogs though interestingly I have noticed quite a few have slowed down, stopped entirely or moved their content into other areas. Adverblog is a daily inspiration but feels more like a slick commercial venture. So my award for best other homespun blog goes to Dave Mance’s Real Men Write Long Copy. He is very funny, consistently present and the only person I know who has related pitching to premature ejaculation.

I totally understand why a few bloggers have lost steam – it is another commitment fighting against work and personal life, sometimes a busman’s holiday and - when you know you need to overhaul some parts of the site - often gnaws on your conscience like peeling wallpaper.

So thinking back to a year ago when I had no clue even know how to publish a post or once I had embarked on it whether I would get beyond Christmas, it feels a good thing to have done. It definitely pushes my thinking and hopefully helps those who read it.

I have just come back from 6 months off travelling. I am currently freelancing as an account director but since I have come back, my boyfriend and I are thinking of moving back to Bristol as after the space of travelling we are feeling claustrophobic in London. Is this a good time to look for a job elsewhere? My boyfriend is not convinced.

I haven’t worked in Bristol but have worked for London agencies with a Bristol office. Also I have clients in Bristol and funnily enough an old colleague has just moved there. You are the best to decide depending on your circumstances but you should bear in mind the following:

1) The chances of you both getting ideal jobs will be quite small just because the opportunities are more limited as you know.

2) I don’t know whether you have worked in Bristol agencies before and where you are now but my ex-colleague’s experience is worth mentioning. The agency he moved to was very interested in his big agency experience but not having worked in a small agency before, he did not realise that he would be not only fulfilling the account director role but an account manager role too and also changing the photocopier toner when necessary. Which is more typical for a small agency.

3) Bristol has a wealth of financial services companies so previous experience will be invaluable.

4) You need to seal contact with the recruitment consultants in the area. I hear good things about Direct Experience so this may be a starting point.

5) I hear at the moment that there are probably more client jobs going than agency jobs so you should give this consideration.
I have a lot of time for the companies I deal with in Bristol. For example Unigraph I think is a really strong operator. So there are some quality companies there but back to your original question, times are tough –particularly for agencies for less critical mass than those in London so you may have freelance to get a foot in the door.

Good luck.

4 Seconds to Save the World

Mike, I am just about to take up a post as head of the account handling resource in a small integrated agency. Having worked with you, I wondered whether you had advice for what I should be doing in my first month. I want to make a difference quickly.

Oh yes. “New girl” syndrome at a more senior level is a bit more difficult. Remember those more junior halcyon days when nobody expected you to prove yourself in the first week because you were just learning the ropes in the new account manager role. Now you are faced with everybody trying to work out on the first day whether you are any good, what your appointment means for them and whether you are going to fire them or give them that pay rise they have been expecting for the last 6 months.

I remember in my first job that we had a new marketing manager start and at the end of the first day he very gracefully shouted across the small office thanks to people for making his first day so easy. Having gained the attention of the whole office, he then proceeded to exit into the fuse cupboard rather than the main door.

It is an enduring image of minor embarrassment but it has always stayed with me showing me that your first days can be fraught with the tension of such potential traps. So when you arrive at a new agency at a senior level with a certain amount of expectation, you have to be ready to hit the ground running very quickly to secure the confidence of your colleagues and clients.

Here would be my 5 point plan as a rough guide to the terrain:

1. Look at the data
The best source of info which is going to tell you more about the state of play of your team is the income, utilisation and profitability figures. They will, in association with any client account plans and customer satisfaction surveys, give you invaluable pointers on your some of your future priorities. Have you got the right shape of team on the business? Where should you directing your efforts? Are there some major issues around the corner?

2. Talk to the clients
In your first few days you are going to have a lot of staff giving you their opinions about the clients, the work and the agency. I personally would go straight to the clients and get their views as their opinions – albeit just as subjective – are definitely more defining. What do they think of the agency as a business partner? Who do they rate on the team? What do they think of the work, process, agency costs etc? Where are the opportunities, issues etc?

3. Identify the players
No doubt you will be spending some time with the creative director to understand the work? But who else is key? Planning Director? Financial Director? Head of Project Management? And who are the less obvious influential characters – the receptionist, the CEO’s PA, Head of HR, the social secretary?

4. Understand what makes the agency tick
An agency is an organism made up of an internal culture of values, personalities and practices. Get to grips with this quickly. Where does information exchange really go on? Down the pub at Friday lunchtime? In the kitchen? Who are the real opinion formers in your department? Is the culture determined by a few personalities?

5. Set out your stall
Your client services guys may be looking for the leadership you will provide. They may however be very cynical about your role - as the last person who they really liked got fired. They need to know who you are and what you are going to do for them. Meet them individually so you can get up to speed with them and their accounts. But then convene a departmental meeting and in brief terms give them your view and what your plan is going to be. Knowing you, you will get them on your side every easily. So don’t take too long in doing this as the waiting and uncertainty can cause inertia and ructions which can be very counter-productive.

Son, You Can't Handle An Idea!

I have just started in my new agency and I am looking for tips how to evaluate creative work. Nobody asks my opinion in WIPs yet but I want to get to a point quickly that I can talk about the work with some sense of knowing what I am on about. Some of the concepts presented I get right away but others I struggle with to know whether the client will like them. My boss and the creative director make it look so easy.

This takes time and experience but there are a few shortcuts which will help you. What you trying to achieve is judgement based on knowledge of the brief and objectivity as the person evaluating the creative work.

Life is pretty hectic in agencies as we know and it is not unusual for people to forget to remind themselves of the brief. As someone learning the ropes, make sure you have re-read the brief and have the proposition in the forefront of your mind when you go into the WIP.

I talk about objectivity for clients when evaluating work in Working with Agencies – Chapter 5 (yes, this is a shameless bookplug) and the principles are the same. You are looking at the creative from the perspective of 1) a strategist, 2) a consumer and also 3) the client.

As a strategist you are looking at the work in terms of: Is it on brief/brand/proposition? Is it differentiating?

Putting yourself in the shoes of the target audience, you are looking at the work in terms of : Do I ‘get’ the work straightaway? What does it give me? (A new way of looking at the brand? Entertainment? Exclusive content? Intellectual satisfaction?) What insight about me, the target audience, does the work draw on? Am I inspired and motivated by the idea What does it ask me to do – is it reasonable?

From the client’s perspective, you are looking at the work in terms of: Have we done anything like this before? Is the work on brand guidelines? Can it be produced within the timeline and the budget?

This is all theoretical and correct. But you need to feed your perspectives with real life examples. A good way to do this is through a number of sources such the media your clients’ customers consumer (to put yourself in their shoes) Adverblog, creative award annuals and The FWA (for understanding of impactful creative work), the trade press and Google Alerts (relating to your client’s business.

Also observe how the creative director and your boss approach work. They no doubt can help you get you to the point you want. And your creative director hopefully won't be as harsh as our friend Jack!

Random Thoughts from the Back of the Room

I attended a breakfast seminar to launch my friend’s new book – Creative Strategy. If the strong style and substance of the discussion reflects the content of the book, then it should be a good read. It explores the relationship between creativity in business and vice versa, The contributions to the discussion yesterday by Sir George Cox, ex Chair of The Design Council and Vikki Heywood, the Executive Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company were particularly impressive.

Two thoughts occurred to me while listening to both the panel and the audience who were made up of academics, those from arts and business quangos, business people etc.

One was that these guys knew how to express and talk richly about an idea.

And in stark contrast, in agencyland we pay lipservice to the idea of the “idea” but not only some of the ideas are not that rich in content but there are a lot of people who cannot communicate an idea adequately enough to convince a client of its relevance. Maybe we should be looking outside the industry in the arts, education and philosophy to be able to do this better. You'll see some good examples in recent TED vids.

And the other thought was around recession and recruitment - what other less obvious characteristics define a recessionary time?

It is acknowledged that good emerging companies take risks and seize opportunities in a recessionary marketplace which can be quite nervous otherwise; small companies can become big and strong through sharpening their teeth in a recession. Nothing new there - think of all the successful agency start-ups that thrived in previous such times to become recognised brands: Rainey Kelly, Partners Andrews Aldridge, Naked are just three examples that spring to mind. This is true of clients as well - it's all about the confidence and about the desire to build a better moustrap for customers and the excitement around doing so.

What was touched on in the breakfast seminar was the difficulty of recruiting the right skills for the emerging companies. And I got to thinking of this phenomenon may be a characteristic of a recession. And this is what I am hearing throughout our industry - those agencies that are doing well are looking to fill important roles but there is a lot of nervousness among those who would be potentially be looking so there are fewer candidates out there. In the meantime, the roles are not being filled and the agencies are not doing as well as they could be. The really good companies still manage to attract new recruits as well they do new clients. But those a level down - not so maybe high-profile - are suffering through lack of high quality candidates. So maybe recruitment consultants hold the key to our short term success if they concentrated their efforts on the harder briefs?

Just a thought ..or two.

Account Man's Best Friend

I am the account director and my boss expects me to responsible for all aspects of the account but the creative director goes off and racks up a whole of time by doubling the number of teams working on a job or dumping a whole load of his time on my account job numbers. I don’t have a great relationship with him, he is a partner in the business and yet he seems to be unaware of profitability issues. He is making my job a misery – what should I do?

This is similar to a previous question which I answered last year. Have a look at the previous post but let me look at things specific to your question:

Firstly don’t take it personally. Just see it as something that needs sorting out like if a process is not working out. It would be very easy to slip into the trap of demonising him when in fact he should be your best friend. As you know, we can be extremely buttoned down account handlers working our hearts out on the client relationship, but what will really excite and inspire clients is the creative work and a good creative director can come in with all his/her non-account handling techniques and make all that happen. So you need to allow that creative spirit to flourish – with the client and within the account team.

However, you seem to have a tough situation. A partner in the business who is not conscious of profitability and someone to boot who does not know that his client services staff can be such strong allies in the pursuit of good creative work (if treated correctly) sounds very old-school.

You obviously need a conversation with him but you will need to couch it in his terms. Therefore anything which gets better work through the client, makes him look personally good and his department more famous is something he will listen to.
He may not realise what his actions are doing to the account profitability. A few choice examples may show him that he won’t be able to afford his new Harley at the end of the year if money is being wasted in this way.

Don’t forget there is going to be a healthy tension between an account director’s view of tidy finances and the desire to do speculative creative work. I find if that the rules for creating speculative work to excite the client can be agreed within teams, then some of the tensions are dissipated. And the account planning process can make sure that everyone is in agreement why speculative work should be undertaken and to what budget.

The account planning process also allows you to expose some of the issues to the wider management team and get agreement on how much time is going to be invested in new areas – without giving the creative director the impression you are ratting on him to his peers.

Experiment with these ideas. And good luck - just see it as an easier form of liontaming...

The Pitch Aftermath Will Not Be Televised

We’ve just lost one of our main flagship accounts. I am not affected directly but it is obvious that they will have to make redundancies or people will leave through TUPE. I was thinking of moving on next year as I am fairly enjoying the work but not immensely. Should I think about leaving now as things are going to change for the worse in the next few months?

This is one of the typical times people review their own current job situation. Your question coincided with the news this week about the Virgin Media pitch – sad news for my old friends at Rapier (I thought their Samuel L. Jackson “The Revolution will not be Televised” style TV ads a few years back were particularly impressive) but exciting times for other friends of mine at DDB. And that’s the thing about these things – all is fair in love, war and pitches. Some agency’s loss is another’s massive gain.

At this stage of the year, the DDB management team will be very pleased with fulfilling a good chunk of their new business target and welcome the headache of resourcing such an account. Rapier on the other hand will be working out what it does for their income, morale and their new business drive.

In your situation, you are maybe using an external factor to accelerate your jobhunting. It doesn’t sound as though you are massively happy on the account so it is highlighting an issue. However I would look closely at whether it is the account or agency which is not working for you. If it is the agency, then yes you should think about moving as the forthcoming months will require a tenacity from you as a loyal employee; the agency will undoubtedly dip for a few months but the good agencies bounce back and sometimes the energy that a replacement account brings makes things even better. So it may be worth staying – in fact there may be new opportunities for you.

However if you are thinking of moving, then bear in mind that in addition to those whose jobs are directly affected by the loss, there will be others in your agency who will be dusting off their cvs. When recruiting for new roles, I have often encountered a glut of cvs from one agency which is either imploding or affected by a big loss. And because of this it is probably inevitable that your cvs will be viewed collectively rather than individually. In fact last month I interviewed separately two candidates from the same agency working on the same account and it was interesting to see where their stories agreed and diverged.

If you do decide on moving, maybe apply directly to the winning agency who took the account off your agency or DDB and Rapp. I am sure they are on the lookout for good people.

Lance, It’s Not About the Client

I recently took up cycling to compete in a Cape Town race which my best friend persuaded me to do. You can see my surprising efforts at the photoblog, Bike Openmike. Having got into it and thinking about this blog, I was interested in what I have learnt that it is relevant for agency client services:

a) You cannot ignore the phenomenon of Lance Armstrong if you touch any part of cycling. It tickled me to know that I was racing against him in South Africa but we knew he would be back in his hotel having his second breakfast by the time we reached our first pitstop. I have not read his book (I was surprised that quite a few non-cycling women have) but know his story. What I take from him is his dogged adherence to a vision which secured him those victories. In the above staggering footage, there are scenes of true adversity where he just gets back on the bike and pursues his goals (not even to mention the recovery from cancer). I was thinking in these tough times for agencies where it is a buyer’s market, we have not spent enough time selling and reselling in our vision (creative, strategic, technological etc). This means that we are being blown off track by a myriad client comments. Maybe we should regroup and relook with the client at what the vision should be and then have the rationale to stick to our goals more.

b) “Train as you mean to play”. I remember Brian O’Driscoll saying this years ago in a documentary about the British and Irish Lions. It’s just as true as for cycling. You need to put in the hard work and use the equipment that you intend to use in the race. Then when something unexpected happens, you are only looking at one new variable. This can be translated into rehearsing for pitches (no, really rehearsing for pitches), exploring cost conversations with clients extensively with colleagues before you have them with the client, writing creative rationales before you present (rather when you send the concepts after the meeting) etc.

c) Cycling is obviously in the zeitgeist currently. Whether we are talking about riding to work or our Olympic team's performances, it’s amazing sometimes to see an idea converge around the areas of health, environment, return to childhood, male obsession with gadgets, girlpower etc - and motivate so many people. How are we using real understanding of what consumers are thinking generally about themselves and society. Are we targeting our research too narrowly to inform our work?

d) We all go on about social media, networking, word of mouth etc. Just have a look at some of those bike blogs - Velodramatic, London Cyclist, Pedal Strike. This is where real opinion is being influenced and products being promoted. Let’s forget about suggesting it like it was a media option and understand how we can develop the brand strategy to create useful content.

e) We also could do worse by studying how brands and sites like Rapha and Wiggle are clearing up out there. Sure, they are tapping into a passion rather a boring ISA product but they still need to make money – Wiggle after 10 years distributes in 70 countries and is a great British business success.

OK, enough about cycling...

Old World Thinking

We are the direct marketing agency working with the ATL agency on a joint client. (We do the DM and digital). What is obvious is that we have a really difficult relationship with them. We often get emails with sentiments like “We’re the lead agency and these are our comments on your concepts”. It is making it difficult for my team. Any thoughts?

This is not an uncommon situation. Historically, ATL agencies have been the lead agency, others have felt the poor cousin in the client relationship and the client has propagated this. Yet with the need to engage customers different ways, all bets are off as to how to structure a number of agencies to deliver this for a client. Nevertheless, there are still some anachronistic attitudes between agencies. I find that they can often be promoted by the junior members of the team and these can be the most overt, annoying attitudes. Also the fact that you are the digital agency (not sure what this covers) will cause predatory actions by the ATL agency unless checked by the client.

As ever, I would suggest a 3-pronged approach. (well, come on – 3 things are easy to remember than 4!):

1) The one party who can change the dynamic in your relationship most with the other agency is the client. I appreciate that it may not be just one client contact we are talking about. However if you can influence that person/the relevant people, then you will make the greatest change. The senior member on your team needs to see whether the client is sympathetic to helping - by establishing some operating groundrules which will change the status quo. For example the overall campaign brief – do you feed into this? And does the other agency need to take on board your comments? If you can influence the brief you have a better chance of agreeing common ground (and the differences per media) before you ever start any creative.
It may be you have some radical groundwork to do before the client will help you for they see you in a too traditional way. What can you do to show your thinking is worthy of seat at the table? Added-value thought pieces? Name-checking case studies in your field which make the clients and other agencies think about approaching the customer differently? Suggesting taking the lead where your discipline is the dominant one? If the other agency sees the client responding to this differently , they may see you in a different light as well.

2) In addition, your account lead needs to sit with the ATL agency lead and have a one-to-one session which is rooted in an honesty about the perceptions on your side. Recently this has worked with an account I was involved in – particularly as we both knew that the client wanted us to sort out a better collaborative style. Beforehand your team should sit down with her/him and provide him not only with examples but with solutions as to how it can work better. Can you rework the process to work better together? Who are the worst proponents of this snobbish attitude? How can you avoid any territory disputes? (Better to bring this all out then keep it buried.) And to your point, how should feedback on creative concepts be handled?

3) Often when you feel the “poor cousin”, then it is a self-fulfilling prophesy where the “chip on your shoulder” grows bigger with every encounter. How can you, yourselves, break out of this perceptual cycle with the agency? How can you take the lead without making it a territory thing? Invite the team around for a social session (maybe with the client to ensure attendance), create a presentation around a particular area which they would benefit from, make their life easier (eg go to their offices for meetings for a while). Here the point is that you might be creating the situation by your actions – what can you do to change their perceptions?

Hope this helps. A video doing the rounds currently (no doubt promoted by all those “poor cousins”) may be some consolation. More importantly, your team needs to make sure it that its thinking is not from the Stone Age too:

The Last Advertising Agency On Earth from FITC on Vimeo.

Square Peg?

I am recruiting and I have a very strong candidate but I am not sure that they will fit in with the culture of our agency. How important is this versus the skillset they could bring? We are desperate and I know the candidate will work well with the client.

Difficult situation indeed but if you can recognise this at such early stage then you are sensing problems down the line. You need to think about 3 months hence and what will your colleagues will be saying about this person and who will be saying it. Will the opinion formers in the agency be on his/her side? What will the board say about them? It seems to me that you can sense what they will be saying.

It all really depends on whether you are trying change the culture of the agency yourself and that person will be driver of such change. However no one person can shoulder such weight. It would have to be as part of a change which management and the agency had bought into.

We saw these culture shifts some time ago when comms planning or data planning were instituted into the fabric of certain agencies. More recently with digital being integrated into more traditional agency skills. There was a good deal of pain and failure in certain cases where the combination was an unproductive cocktail. Networks are littered with such memories.

Back to your personal situation, my recommendation would be to keep looking and source with a freelancer. I took someone on who I knew was of a different cut to the agency and regretted it because I spent more time trying to mop all the debris it caused. I had carefully involved the board and all the key players but I still felt it reflected on my decision-making than theirs. So keep looking. You may have to get colleagues’ recommendations rather than cvs from recruitment consultants as currently it seems as though good people are not actively looking –they are battening down the hatches – but they could be tempted by an exciting challenge.

Gone Cycling

360 or Third Degree?

We are being asked by the client to co-fund our agency performance evaluation by a specialist consultancy. I don’t think it is a bad idea but what is the norm? Do you think we should be paying?

Funnily enough I am in a similar situation with a client of mine (maybe the same client?). To answer your first question, my experience is that larger clients apart from some of the FMCG clients will have an agency evaluation process in place but they tend to do it in-house. And it is only when there is an issue, do they bring in an outside specialist.

I think if they expect you to jointly co-fund the evaluation, you should have a say as how it is done and who is used. Now this may cause the client a problem because presumably they want to use a common approach and company across all their agencies. However, surely your money gives you a voice? And consequently the evaluation company should see you as an important stakeholder.

In essence, as long as it is not horrendously expensive, there are more pros for independent evaluation than cons. There is more objectivity (especially when linked to performance bonus) and such consultancies are constantly enhancing their methodologies to evaluate service companies and they also have access to a database of market standards through their work with other agencies and clients.

All these things considered you have to weigh up the cost of co-funding and what it can bring your agency – extra performance bonus, stronger reputation and/or a clearer direction for you to improve your service. Maybe it will also give a few pointers as to how the clients could polish up their act?!

Telecon Rhetoric

So I have a question but I don’t need an answer to my rhetoric question: Are we spending more time on teleconferences rather than in face to face client meetings where we can develop stronger relationships and have the luxury of discussing knottier problems?
It makes sense for clients in multi-locations but although it speeds things up it has a number of disadvantages apart from the two already mentioned. Really the issue I struggle with is that there is a lot of unwritten protocol about telecons which is being ignored with this need for speed. How many times are we on calls when we don’t quite know who the others are? How often does the conference organiser take control of the telecon by making sure everyone is briefed of the meeting objectives in advance , making sure everyone has a say and providing the documents to be discussed well in advance so it can be a productive conversation.
Often with so many people on the line it is a very cold clinical conversation whereas in a face to face meeting things would warm up. The last time I had a laugh on a call was when some wag when dialing in announced himself as Sir Martin Sorrell. It suddenly got everyone’s attention but that was a while back.
My plea to clients and agency folk alike is to use them wisely.
Please – it is doing my head in!

I agree. I think Tom Fishburne's recent cartoon above also highlights another aspect.

More Mythology, Analogy and Mixology

We’re working on a major rebrand project for a client split across two geographic locations, with three separate, all equally significant, lines of report. There are a range of different tasks and budgets involved, so the ‘project’ is, in fact, a number of separate interlinked projects, requiring a number of different project managers, conversations etc. We have set up a weekly status telecon but it’s not delivering the goods, with the result that we’re spending more and more time ironing out details and agreements between the different parties. Needless to say there’s a healthy dollop of politics in the mix which also requires constant management. So what do we do? How are we going to stop this many-headed beast from swallowing us whole?

As Prince Charles and The City Beat Gang sang in pre-iPod days “War is a game of chess” and I was reminded of this cheesy refrain when I read your question. You have a very difficult situation and to be successful you need to operate in this constrained framework in a way chess players would formulate their strategy and put their pieces in place.

I sympathise with you as the many-headed beast you describe is less of the Cerberus in the last posting (purely coincidental to your description) and more of a Hydra – not sure where this surge of classical mythology has come from but let’s go with it - even it is a weird cocktail with the 80s music reference.

1) If I remember correctly, the Hydra that Hercules had to conquer was a tricky beast with 9 heads but there was one head which was key to its survival. You have to work out which decision maker to target so that all the other ones will fall in line. I think it is in the nature of some account handlers in certain types of agencies to try to please all the clients - tiptoeing through the politics and trying to steer the work through the dynamics of the many decision-makers. In my experience, a lot of good ATL guys are quite single-minded and solely target the big cheese, knowing they will get the work through if they convince the right person as everyone else will fall in line. I don’t always admire the means by which it is done but I respect the efficiency of the result. I think it is the bane of brand agencies to have to deal with a number of clients with conflicting interests but you may benefit from this type of singlemindedness.

2) You may have put in place a weekly status but the number of people involved and the level of those attending may mean that no strong direction and little decision-making will happen and that type of telecon just sucks up the energy and time of a project. I wonder whether you could suggest a higher level weekly status (not called that though) where the senior team get updated on the progress and are consulted on particular decisions which allow the project to keep on track in terms of objectives, budget and timings.

3) It may also be stating the bleeding-obvious but with the project being multi-headed then concentrate on the important – ie what is going to make the biggest difference to success and prioritise accordingly. It is easy to lose sight of this. Keep the client constantly reminded of the objectives and the agreed route to achieve them.

4) Also it may be too late but don’t let the creative work become the instrument to solve conflicting business issues. If you can resolve any such business discussions before the creative is shown you have a better to chance to get multi-lateral acceptance.

5) And finally because I know it is easy for me to theorise and harder for you to deliver with the practicalities of location and internal politics, make sure you always have a good bottle of Chablis chilling in the fridge for when you have escaped the monsters.

Many Headed Client

Our main client contact is a control freak and won’t allow the agency to have contact with any of their more senior colleagues. This is born out of fear that they will lose control of the work we have been briefed to do, but it’s affecting our ability create a meaningful, trusting and financially rewarding relationship with this client. How can we address this?

You have a guard-dog guarding the senior decision maker like Cerberus guarded Hades – to add a bit classical imagery – something no doubt Rory Sutherland would allude to if he were answering your question but much more eloquently. In various versions, Cerberus is overcome by doped honeycakes, wooed by enchanting music and enslaved in chains. I think with your difficult gatekeeper client I would use stealth tactics rather than overt aggressive behaviour. So rather than state that you are going to go to the senior client as it is your right as a commissioned agency, you need to employ more subtle methods.

Presumably you need to initiate a real relationship with the client before you can start an ongoing dialogue. Yes, this person may have sat on the pitch who appointed you but it doesn’t mean that you necessarily have a relationship with them. So how do you start this? Well back to the doped honeycakes and enchanting music. This is where I believe client hospitality can play a role. First of all do your homework – what is the senior client into rugby, rock music, opera, golf? Then put an invitation together which would appeal to the senior client and your Cerberus client (you do not want this person’s nose out of joint with an exclusive invite just for the senior client). Then put together a team from your side, choose your best shot to seal a connection with the client and make sure you have a few people to cover off your regular client.

If the client does not take up the traditional hospitality route or you feel it is not appropriate, invite them to an interesting seminar or maybe appeal to the professional ego: ask him/her to speak at a joint client seminar held at the agency (attended by other clients) on a theme you know they would be comfortable with.

Once you have sealed a connection, then the excuses for an ongoing dialogue are easier – regular one to one meetings with your senior equivalent, joint agency/client planning meetings, agency performance reviews etc.


PS Talking about Rory Sutherland you may have seen other blogs referencing his TED talk. You have to check it out – it’s a top performance and a great score for the IPA.

D.I.V.O.R.C.E?

We have got to the end of our tether with a client of ours. The relationship is not significant financially at the moment, the work is tedious (as our staff keep reminding us) and they expect a lot for very little. We have a rolling contract with them, so should we just walk away?

This is similar territory to the question about taking on a tobacco account and having the agency split into two by the ethics of the situation. Both situations are undermining the spirit and energy of the agency.

Having been faced with similar clients before and knowing the downward spiral just continues, I would advise cutting your losses and getting out quick and focusing your energies on new, more productive clients. But that is easy for me to say without knowing whether in these times something for the agency is better than nothing and that also you are not contractually in risk.

Based on the assumption that you can get out of the relationship easily and are not gaining anything financially from having the account – which you sort of say in your question – I would make sure beforehand that you consult with the main client contact to see if there is anything that can be fixed. It also allows you to flag that there are problems and that from a business perspective, it is not sustainable. So what you are doing is preparing the client for a potential “it’s not working” conversation later on. Consequently, if you do have that conversation, it will not come out of the blue, it will not appear arrogant (as there is business sense behind it) and you may be able to leave the door open for projects which play to your skills and will work for you financially.

Difficult Staff Conversations

My boyfriend in another agency has to let someone in his team go because they are not cutting it in their probation. Any tips for him?

I was thinking about making agency people redundant when I saw Up in the Air recently. George Clooney is a hired hand who travels the States, gaining a ridiculous number of airmiles and delivers the bad news to corporate employees.

In a way, being emotionally detached from the employees makes it easier but I think because of the detachment you would be the focus of the anger of the alienated staff too – I would expect a lot of car damage in that job. I am also reminded of a friend of a friend who was head of HR at the European HQ of a Silicon Valley company. He and his North American equivalent had to make a number of wide-ranging redundancies. My friend’s friend was luckier than his Californian colleague – one US employee demanded an appeal meeting with the head of HR after being told he was being made redundant and took a gun out and killed two people.

I mention these “upbeat” stories not to scare your boyfriend but to show we cannot forget that we are dealing with people’s lives, aspirations and livelihoods here. Also you cannot predict how people will react – maybe not with a gun but when I have been involved in such conversations, I am aware that people shut down and not always hear all that is said – it is a shock response. Therefore your boyfriend needs to display extreme sensitivity and phrase things in a very clear way.

The first questions that come flooding into one’s mind when one hears such news are “Why – what could I have done differently?” “How am I going to pay the rent?” “ What am I going to tell my family and friends?” Consequently, you need to bear in mind that you have to give a plausible rationale to the employee so they can process it emotionally. When it is an agency financial decision, it is easier – a case of the old “It’s not you, it’s me.” In this situation, where it is poor performance, although no doubt you can wrap it up in a financial excuse, I think you are better to address the real performance problem. – this is fairer for the employee’s future career. This means talking about what’s not working but not to the extent that the poor junior is bereft of all self-confidence.

Your boyfriend will need to involve HR in the meeting and make sure what he is doing is right according to employment law and right for the individual situation. This is when you need to make sure everything is by the book. I remember at a previous agency that someone tried to let someone go in their probationary period and then afterwards the employee rocked up with a letter from the dippy HR assistant confirming the probationary period was over a month before. Talking to HR can help you prepare how you phrase things and if your boyfriend has never done this sort of thing before, he should rehearse it in advance. What am I saying? I think even if you are a seasoned pro, you should rehearse it. The employee deserves this and and you will feel better afterwards having done it in a way that is sensitive and fair to everyone. Oh and choose your location wisely – the goldfish bowl meeting room in the centre of the agency is probably not the best place.

So in summary I would suggest he:

1) Involve HR and prepare for the meeting extensively

2) Be clear and sensitive in what is said

3) Be prepared for irrational reactions

It’s going to be one of those years where performance and financials is going to be under scrutiny so no doubt there will a number of these conversations throughout agencyland. Best of luck! And Up in the Air is just worth watching for those air travel tips - think again who you queue up behind in the security checks!

Fact or Friction?

Our account manager and our client are not seeing eye to eye and there is a lot of friction. The client wants to get as much as they can for nothing and the account manager needs to ensure they maximise return on the relationship and protect the agency. Something's got to give or we might lose the account and it is quite big - help!

You have two things going on and it is easy to confuse the two and just solve one, leaving the other to fester. In essence you have a chemistry issue between the account handler and the client but more importantly your client seems to be under a misapprehension about your cost basis. The former might be as a result of the latter but you won’t know until you solve the cost issue.

You are right – something has to give (and it could be the account) so I would suggest that you understand why the client wants to “get as much as they can for nothing”. In my experience, clients like this one either do not appreciate the basis of the remuneration structure (another client created it and is the only one who understands the agreed thinking behind it) or they feel you are too expensive or “ripping them off” so they want to get as much as they can for their – in their minds – overinflated fees. Whichever mindset, you need to take quick action and get this client on side by understanding their perspective. Give them a call and meet up for a chat about the costs, how the projects are going. It may be the opportunity to understand the personality issues, reinforce the cost basis and see if you are coming over as too expensive. Once you know what is really driving the issues, you can then make a decision re your account handler staying on the business.

So What Are We Going To Do In 2010?

I think we have enough commentators giving their prognoses on the world of on- and offline marketing this forthcoming year. So I thought I would share my very simple resolutions for 2010 with you:

Enjoy the work
I felt towards the end of last year we (myself included) were gritting our teeth and digging deep to get through the barrage of work. This year will be similar in terms of workload but my resolution is enjoy it more and make light of the challenges we face. I also think collectively we will do better work because of it.

Hold steady on the money
This will be another year where there will be downward pressure on costs. This is understandable and if a client has just let 10% of its marketing department staff go, then who are you to stand like Canute trying to resist cuts in your budgets. However, both your day to day clients and procurement will be trying to get more for less. This is where we do need to stand firm and have our arguments ready for what you can actually provide and also more innovative solutions to help them get to where they need to be on a smaller budget.

Do meetings more effectively
Tom Fishburne to whom I am grateful, as ever, for this post’s cartoon quotes Seth Godin on being more productive by reducing meeting drag. All of his suggestions make total sense. What I found last year is that clients as they are based in different offices are using meetings or telecons to catch on projects in bigger groups. The more productive thing would be to meet in smaller groups in advance and come to wider meetings with conclusions from the initial meetings. Also, as more and more meetings are virtual, I am constantly surprised how little concession is made to the fact people are not face to face (eg by circulating work in advance, eliciting feedback from all attendees to avoid dissension further down the line). Anyway for my part I am going to take Godin’s tip of 1) always circulating an agenda in advance and 2) doing more meetings around our pooltable which doesn’t have any chairs. Hopefully at least the latter will mean less time spent on meetings.