We meet as a team every Monday morning. We’ll talk about the week ahead, what the account team is hearing from the client, how we can support each other, and what we need to get done.*
The “what we need to get done” bit is where our agency shines because we believe in the Democracy of Good Ideas concept.
Here’s what that looks like:
If we’re in the midst of a branding project, we talk as a team about ideas and what resonates. We vet strategy by the research that everyone has performed. We pressure test advertising concepts to see if they influence our purchase decision. Many of our other deliverables — think social media posts, content, communications devices — go live if we’re satisfied that the creative would make us stop and engage.
There is no hierarchy in these meetings. Every person weighs in. Every voice counts. Every perspective is essential.
Seniority plays a bit of a role — experience does matter — but the loudest voice never beats the grandest idea.
After our call, the people responsible will, more often than not, kick out a round of revisions within a day or so. The goal is to deliver strategy, creative, and content that will change the bottom line.
These internal review and improvement steps are just the beginning.
From the early days of our agency, it became clear that our clients were the best subject matter experts available. They were in the trenches. They knew the potholes coming down the road. They were the holders of the essential kernel of inspiration about their company.
Many of us came from agencies where senior account and creative people didn’t consider the client’s input. It struck us as egotistical and shortsighted.
The twin truths outlined above inspired us to take the Democracy of Good Ideas to the next level and engage our clients in the ideation, strategic, and creative processes.
We start with an understanding that we’re here to learn. We want to know what inspired the concept and glean as much information as possible about the company’s experience. Sometimes we ask dumb questions. Often we make dumb jokes.
Then we go off and research the company, industry, and competition. There’s no secret sauce there. Every agency does something like this and then presents a fancy deck with findings and insights.
Findings and insights are crucial. But presenting them as if we’re all back in a lecture hall is a useless exercise. We prefer to take the opportunity to open a conversation. We learn a lot, and the client gets to offer feedback along the way.
That spirit continues as we deliver branding “things,” like business cards, because our clients should feel pride when they introduce themselves and hand over that card.
And it grows as we perform ongoing marketing efforts. Again, it’s about the client’s business and pushing them into the spotlight.
When client and agency work together, and we hear all ideas, that’s what happens — pride in every engagement, deliverable, and connection.
Delivering a fulfilling experience inspires us and is why we adhere to the Democracy of Good ideas philosophy.
*We also spend a fair amount of time making fun of David, but that’s for another post.
