How brands and agencies can work better together to create breakthrough work

Too many cooks in the kitchen spoil the broth—or so the saying goes. But when was the last time you saw a renowned restaurant serve iconic dishes day in, day out with just one chef? New York City’s famed Eleven Madison Park has a team of 24 chefs on its website. But no two cooks are stirring the same pot or reducing the same sauce. Each is an expert in their field and has a clearly defined role. They work together to drive the efficiency and creative excellence that sustain the restaurant’s elite status. It’s a delicate dance. Brands are no different. The best integrated agency teams (IATs) are the ones comprised of a group of many cooks. Even if IATs appear broad and deep—brand marketers, in-house social, third-party PR, creative agency, media agency, CRM agency—having a multidisciplinary group of experts is a net plus, but only if they’re good dance partners. Here are some rules for creating the best-in-class combo of creative agency and brand in-house team for breakthrough work: 1. It’s a marriage. It’s not meant to be perfect. But the goal is shared. In the worst-case scenario, an external creative agency feels like a mistress. The side piece a brand brings in that feels like competition to their in-house agency. But when the relationship works well, it should feel like a marriage between the in-house agency and creative agency (as an extension of the brand). Also read: Subway hires ex-PepsiCo marketer as global CMO Just like in a strong marriage, the two entities have different strengths and perspectives. Often, the in-house agency is the brand, product, audience and channel expert, while the creative agency brings a powerful consumer insight and overarching industry and ecosystem perspective from working with a range of clients. Together, they ensure the work is on-brand but doesn’t feel like it was created in an echo chamber. And while there may be disagreements or conflicting opinions (no marriage is perfect, after all), they share a common goal and priorities. They push each other to be better, and as a result, the whole is better than the sum of its parts. 2. Strong marriages are built on unwavering trust At the end of the day, we’re all just people. People who want to make great work that has a positive impact on a brand and, ideally, have fun doing it. And we’re only able to do that from a foundation of mutual respect and trust. Ego gets in the way of trust. We don’t ask ourselves, “Who’s right?” We ask: “What’s right?” We are here in service of making the work better. Not each other’s egos. 3. Play angel’s advocate On that note, it’s easy for our bias to lean towards our own colleagues. And it’s easy to play devil’s advocate, dashing ideas and suggestions that may seem impossible to pull off. The best teams are the ones that employ an angel’s advocate mentality. What if this was a possibility? How could we make that happen? 4. Be clear on swim lanes An established responsibility assignment matrix is perhaps the most important element of a good in-house and external agency relationship (and any IAT relationship, for that matter). A marketer asking its in-house team and external agency roster to sort out roles and responsibilities among themselves is like a parent putting a bunch of children together in a room and expecting order. More from Ad Age: 5. Design a powerful feedback loop In-house agencies are like Duolingo for creative agencies and brand clients—helping translate feedback both ways. They can help brand teams understand why an idea is strong or why a creative agency works a certain way. Conversely, they can help translate brand team feedback into agency-friendly terms. 6. Let. Them. Cook. Getting a bunch of top brains in a room and spitballing ideas sounds collaborative, but it is also as inefficient as it gets. There comes a time in the process when the agency needs to whip up a few recipes alone to bring to the table for discussion. There are actual studies around how and why this is the most effective way to mine gold. Ask author and professor Adam Grant. Don’t Miss: Data-Driven Marketing Playbook—everything you need to know 7. Protect the idea with your life Getting to a bold idea is the easiest part. Protecting it from death by a thousand paper cuts is the hardest part. Creative ideas are fragile, especially in their infancy. But buy-in from the C-suite marketer, in-house team and IAT partners might just be the first hurdle. At a highly matrixed organization, marketing leaders will have to go to bat for the idea to get it across the line with their CEO, chairpeople, franchisees or shareholders. The agency will know how to keep the idea pure. The in-house team can help internal selling by wrapping it in lingo only they know from years of working on the business. There’s no such thing as too many cooks in the kitchen. But bad choreography is very real

How brands and agencies can work better together to create breakthrough work

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