by Judy Neer
21. October 2009 05:55
It’s rare these days to see a marketer work with just one agency partner. In today’s marketing landscape you are more likely to see a marketer have two, three or eight different agencies. The challenge is how to get them to “play well in the sandbox”.
There are many reasons why agencies might not collaborate well together. Some of the reasons include: each agency is watching out for its own income and profit, creative teams want to own their ideas and cultures and work style are very different. But it isn’t always just the agencies fault. Often each agency is working with a different individual within the client organization. That can create a difference in direction and lack of collaboration. Or the client has not clearly articulated who is doing what and how they want the agencies to interact. Just as it can be difficult to get individuals to collaborate within one organization, it can be even harder between multiple organizations.
We recommend the following:
1. Create alignment within the marketing department.
2. Provide clear direction to each agency regarding its scope of work.
3. Define performance goals for each agency. One of those goals must be around how well they work with the other marketing partners.
4. Set up a meeting with all the agencies partners to define the role each plays.
5. Then make sure to have frequent team work sessions that include members of all agencies
What clients don’t want to lose is the ability for any of their agencies to come up with the “big idea”. So don’t make the agency’s “box” too limiting. At the same time, the agency can’t be under-performing on its core scope because it is trying to get business from the other agencies. Again, setting a performance goal of sharing ideas with a joint bonus if there is growth is the way to go.
In addition to formal performance evaluations with each agency partner, we recommend an evaluation session between partners. We also recommend setting up an incentive bonus plan that forces the agencies to work well together.
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