Cheat Codes . . . for Brand Managers to Get the Most Out of Their Agency Teams
Neil Arlett is the President of Hitch Experiential. He has over 20 years of agency experience developing and executing experiential marketing programs for well-known national brands. Neal Stewart has over twenty years of senior management experience on the brand side for notable names such as Pabst Blue Ribbon, Mike's Hard Lemonade, Dogfish Head, and Deschutes Brewery. In this collaborative post, Neil and Neal will give you the inside scoop on how Brand Managers/Directors can use "Cheat Codes" to get the absolute most out of their agency partners.
Let's face it; we have all been there. We've given no direction, vague direction, or a sudden CHANGE in direction to our creative teams. No matter what you call it, it's BAD DIRECTION. It almost always leads to ineffective and off-target work that leaves us wanting more.
Throughout our brand/agency careers, we have seen the good, the bad, and the downright ugly regarding agency management and optimization. And through all of that, we have been able to compile dozens of "Cheat Codes" on how to get the most out of your agencies, enhance the overall agency/brand relationship, and improve the overall quality of work by over 1000%. OK, we know, it's not a scientific number, but hey, math is hard.
So, without further ado – we give you, in no particular order, our first three cheat codes to help you get the most out of your agency partners.
Cheat Code # 1 - Write A Good Brief
We're going to start right at the very beginning with the absolute foundation of everything that is to be built – the creative brief. Everything begins and ends with the creative brief. To be blunt - If the brief is bad, we know the end work product will also be bad – garbage in garbage out.
Working through a creative brief for an agency is an absolute ton of work. That, and the impact of writing a lousy brief, will lead both you and your agency teams astray, cost you weeks that you don't have, crush your budget, sap your team's morale – and give you lousy work product that you really don't want to share with your key stakeholders.
So, how do you avoid all that pain and suffering? Write a good brief! Here are the keys!
1. Keep it BRIEF! It should be AT MOST two pages in total. Use bullet points and write something other than a short novel. Nothing spins an agency team quicker than a brief chock-full of marketing word salad.
2. Be organized! Provide tool kits - font files, logos, brand guidelines, etc. The less time your agency has to chase these – the more time they can ideate. Also, deliver a link to the files directly in the brief (and make sure it works – that kind of helps).
3. Clearly define goals, metrics, and measurement. We have seen more RFPs and proposals get blown up over mystery ROI, metrics and goals that weren't detailed in the initial brief. That, or nobody knew how specifically to measure program effectiveness. This must always be detailed thoroughly up front in the brief.
4. Ensure 100% alignment with all key stakeholders. . . before you hit send on that brief. If we had a dollar for every time a brief was re-written because a key stakeholder parachuted in with additional builds and direction after the team was already briefed and in motion…
5. Collaboration. Invite your agency partner to co-write the brief. Have them help you build and shoot holes in it. There's no better way to have a rock-solid brief.
6. Identify all creative and political landmines. i.e., things like ‘the current agency head is our VP's college roommate.’ OR. . . “Creatively, I would stay away from X and Y.” Trust us - this helps more than you know.
7. Share insights from past programs…and why they did or did not work. Anything you can provide your agency that will help them from stepping in something they really don't want to step in is sincerely appreciated.
8. Budgeting. Be as realistic as possible. Don't say you are open to "million-dollar ideas" if you have a $250k budget. If you're not ready to share an accurate budget range - you are not prepared to brief.
So now you get it. Good brief writing is fundamentally crucial to the creative process. But what other Cheat Codes will help you get the most out of your agency teams?
Cheat Code #2 - Retail Ride Along’s
From where we sit - retail ride along’s are worth their weight in gold! We know that everybody likes to grumble about having to go on them. Whether it is the overall expense, the time in market, or the team thinking they already have a deep category understanding. Nobody is looking forward to retail ride along’s. But they should, and here's why:
They provide hands-on knowledge. Sure, your agency has experience in your vertical. But they don't necessarily have experience with your specific brand. Retail ride along’s force the agency to get to know your brand(s) and take a deeper dive into the real-world competitive space.
Generate invaluable insight. Retail ride along’s give your agency team hands-on knowledge of your brand's customer, consumer, and retail environment. We can't tell you how many insights have been uncovered and how many programs have been born directly from what has been learned from a consumer nugget, sales manager feedback, or first person POV from a clerk on the front line.
Break down barriers. Too many barriers exist between sales/brand/agency teams. These barriers impede the creative and program-building process. Simply put, retail ride along’s break them down!
Establish long-term connections. Meaningful relationships will be invaluable for the brand in the future. Nothing beats an agency creative or account lead being able to reach directly out to the sales rep to pick their brain and ask for their insights and vice versa.
Grease the creative wheels. That grease makes the entire creative process much more efficient at every level. Your agency will not wildly swing and miss on future RFPs, and YOU won't go through 10 rounds of creative.
Cheat Code #3 – Creative Feedback
Our third and final Cheat Code is giving excellent creative feedback. Here are things to keep in mind BEFORE you give creative feedback:
Be kind. Ideas and those who created them have feelings! Understand that your feedback and HOW it is delivered is the key factor motivating the team to over-deliver or "just get the job done." It's not that they are pouting, it's just simple psychological motivation, and you're 100% in control of this. Giving good feedback is an art form. And genuinely great clients are masters at it.
Be aligned. Alignment isn't just for the last approval, it's a critical part of every step in the process. If a key decision maker blows up a concept in the final creative round, it crushes the team's soul. It is incredibly inefficient. And quite possibly a major scope change if we're being honest. If you're a brand manager or director, make sure you manage up. If you're a CMO/VP/Director, ensure your team knows the expectations for gaining approvals.
Be on time. Agencies are typically very accommodating to client’s timelines. Still, please know that they are only as good at managing timelines as our clients are at abiding by them. The agency responds to RFPs and briefs on a specific deadline, so brands should provide their responses in an agreed-upon timeline. If you can't avoid being delayed, be sure to adjust the timeframe. Keep in mind that your agency team doesn't necessarily work on JUST your brand – so by moving the timeline, you are also impacting all of their other workflows.
Are these the only Cheat Codes to help Brand Managers and Directors get the most out of their agency teams? Absolutely not. But we can't share all of our secrets at once, what fun would that be? So, stay tuned for more in this ongoing series on Cheat Codes and how you can get the most out of your agency teams.