The Naked Truth: An Unadulterated Look At The Client / Agency Relationship & What It Means For Creativity – The RPA Cannes Lions 2014 Presentation

Hi, I’m Tim Leake.
I work at RPA as SVP/Growth & Innovation.

If Clients don’t believe their Agency’s
recommendation is in their best interest,
Cannes-worthy ideas die.

My job is to apply creativity
to  make sure  we succeed
in the future.
!

And to succeed in the  
future,  we need to
improve our relationships.

We’re proud of our
relationships and our work.  
But we want to get better.

THE FIRST TIME I EVER  SAW A CLIENT NAKED.

“Honestly, I simply don’t
trust any of my agencies
to actually solve my
marketing problems.”

What else aren’t we  
saying out loud?

So, we partnered with   
USA TODAY on a survey:
Completely
anonymous
143 senior-level agency  
& brand marketing leaders

What leads  
to the best
advertising?
Longstanding
relationships

What leads  
to the best
advertising?
Collaboration
from start  
to ﬁnish

What leads  
to the best
advertising?
Clients trusting
their Agencies

98% of Agencies and
Clients agree that
trust leads to great
advertising.
!
Why don’t we have
more of it?

“Get with it. Think more. Embrace
your potential and shake oﬀ your
stupid, dated internal ways.”
CLIENT TO AGENCY:

CLIENT TO AGENCY:
“You slow us down. My professional
success has nothing to do with your
creative idea.”

AGENCY TO CLIENT:
“You’ve drunk your own Kool-Aid. You
have no understanding of consumers at
all. You think you can just show up and
people will pay attention and swoon.”

AGENCY TO CLIENT:
“You’re most always your own problem.
You can't get out of your own way enough
to let the agency do good, business-
changing work.”

Considering we’re
communication companies,
we suck at communication.

CLIENT:
“As an agency, you need to
leverage your supposed
‘expertise’ at communication to
win over your clients.”

AGENCY:
“Your agency relationship is your
opportunity to step outside your
passive-aggressive double-speak
corporate culture and speak
directly.  
 
Stop doing to us what you do
internally and give us more
transparency to solve your
problems and assist with your
career objectives.”

of Clients claim to speak
their mind freely, even
when it’s uncomfortable.88%

But among Agency
leaders who frequently
interact with Clients,
the number who agree
this is true falls to: 36%
of Clients claim to speak
their mind freely, even
when it’s uncomfortable.88%

“The single biggest problem in
communication is the illusion
that it has taken place.”
!
- George Bernard Shaw

We need to apply
some creativity to
what we mean by
“creativity.”

of Agencies and Clients
agree  we don’t have a
shared definition  of
creativity.
2/3

What does “creativity”
mean, anyway?

mean, anyway?
The ability to transform
marketing objectives into
something that connects
with people?
!

mean, anyway?
Non-literal,  non-lateral  
thinking?

mean, anyway?
New and original  ideas
and insights?

mean, anyway?
Making ads?

How much could the best
creative work potentially
move your business?
26%
48%
77%

Clients Agencies Agencies,
if you count the people
who said over 100%
How much could the best
creative work potentially
move your business?
26%
48%
77%

CLIENT:
“You’re all smart, but you get too
wrapped up in a cool idea and
lose sight of the strategy.”

AGENCY:
“I wish our clients had the
courage to go beyond
‘messages’ and embrace  
brand ‘behaviors.’”

CLIENT:
“Don't believe you have a
monopoly on either creativity
or great ideas. They can, and
often do, come from many
places. Embrace this.”

“It’s amazing what you can
accomplish when you do not
care who gets the credit.”
!
- Harry S. Truman

AGENCY:
“Be greater risk takers!! Don't
rely on proven solutions in a
world ﬁlled with new ‘unproven’
opportunity!”

AGENCY:
“Think of your 3 favorite brands.
Do you think they took risks or
played it safe? Five years from
now if we ask someone else that
same question, do you think your
brand will be in their top 3?”

of Agency executives say  their
Clients are afraid to take risks.
76%

“Different” and “Risky”
are two distinct things.

CLIENT:“If you understand my brand and present
a risky and somewhat scary idea to us,
we will buy it. We are interested in
making waves- but not just for the sake
of it- it needs to be strategic and ladder
to our brand equity goals. Challenge me
and you will be surprised at my positive
response.”

“Risk comes from not
knowing  what you’re doing.” 
!
- Warren Buffett

We’re better at the
art of ads than the
art of business.

I feel guilty even talking
about this stuff at Cannes.

90% of Agencies say they
truly understand their
Clients’ business.
!
Only 65% of Clients agree.

84% of Agencies say they
understand how to drive
sales for their Clients’
brands.
!

76% of Agencies say they do a
good job of demonstrating ROI.
!

AGENCY:
“You have absolutely no idea
how much we care about
building and transforming your
business/brand.”

CLIENT:
“You don't get it. You spend a
lot of time selling us on your
ideas, but if you put that
energy into working toward the
same goal (sales), the results
would be better.”

of Clients agree their
Agencies seem  more
interested in  ‘selling
their work’ than ‘solving
our problems’
56%

The reason we don’t have
more Cannes-worthy work is
that we’re trying too hard to
sell Cannes-worthy work.

AGENCY:
“The ones who actually care
about your business success
don’t have ﬁnal say on what work
we present.
!
The work is pushed more for
personal reputations than the
client's best interests.”

Our incentives are not
aligned, and this will be  
a problem until we fix it.

We need a business
case for craft.

Being good in business is the
most fascinating kind of art.  
Making money is art and
working is art and good
business is the best art.
!
- Andy Warhol

A four point plan for Agencies
to help increase trust:
Focus as much on interpersonal communication  
as we do mass communication.1

Work with our clients to define and better
understand  the evolving role of creativity.2

Support our clients in recognizing the distinction  
between "different" and "risky."3

Practice the art of business as much  as the
art of advertising.4
Support our clients in recognizing the distinction  
between "different" and "risky."3

Relationships take work.  
!
But doing so will lead to
more Cannes-worthy work.

The Naked Truth: An Unadulterated Look At The Client / Agency Relationship & What It Means For Creativity – The RPA Cannes Lions 2014 Presentation

In this document

More Related Content

What's hot

Similar to The Naked Truth: An Unadulterated Look At The Client / Agency Relationship & What It Means For Creativity – The RPA Cannes Lions 2014 Presentation

Recently uploaded

The Naked Truth: An Unadulterated Look At The Client / Agency Relationship & What It Means For Creativity – The RPA Cannes Lions 2014 Presentation