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Dear Ad Agency and In-House Agency Creative Leaders:

By November 28, 2017August 6th, 2019News

How To Deal With Seven Universal Gripes And Other Sticky Issues

You will read this article as a blatant pitch for a new way of organizing flexible work structures in the agency world. Independent shops and in-house agencies are battling traditional creative challenges, sampled in the sticky notes above. As always. Fortunately, for those willing to shed the inertia of old structures and explore new ones, today there are non-traditional resources to engage — without giving up control or giving in to someone else’s ego/agenda.

Boom Ideanet represents a new kind of work model; a nimble resource designed to adjust to the ever-changing demands on a creative department. Open your mind and we’ll show you how the model adapts to address many of the challenges indicated in that array of sticky notes above. (Of course, there are other options for external talent strategies which we’ll also mention as a nod to journalistic integrity. Feel free to download a creative resources infographic here.)

The header visual above is lifted from a Digiday article by Yuyu Chen, published Oct 26, 2017. The article was ostensibly about the gripes agencies have with Facebook. But in the body of the article, the image represented above is featured, capturing sticky notes agency teams jotted down confessing to more general challenges they are facing today. (In spite of the article’s title, Facebook has nothing to do with addressing them!)

 

Problem: “Breaking with tradition – willingness to try new things.”

Solution: Even though the audience for both Digiday and anyone likely to see this article in LinkedIn is deeply rooted in the creative world, we tend to resist experimentation.

We get protective of our organizational structure. We feel like any outreach will reflect poorly on our own capacity to originate ideas and solutions. We believe only familiar resources are trustworthy when we finally do admit to needing a boost. We tend to think we’ll lose control the minute we invite outside thinking. You are henceforth invited to overthrow those ingrained ways of thinking. Boom.

Problem: “Agency Ops are a mess. Clients don’t want to pay for our inefficiency and it gets in the way of doing best work.”

Solution: Staff smartly. Reward properly. Set up work flow and resource management tools. Know who has capacity. (Try a tool like Bric.) And have a flex model poised to engage — say with Boom (or Boss or Aquent or Creative Circle or your favorite freelancers). You’ll be more efficient, more resilient, more nimble, more productive. Your clients will be getting more than they pay for and you’ll have the time and the energy and the leadership to do your best work.

Problem: “Smaller budgets, faster timelines and having to think/work more strategically even faster as the landscape changes.”

Solution: Like so many of these perfectly reasonable “gripes,” change is the landscape. Run a tighter, leaner in-house team and set up an external SWAT team with an endless supply of quick response talent through Boom. It’s designed for change.

Problem: “Creative burn-out through inefficient client relationships & pitches.”

Solution: Almost every creative department pushes its staff to the limit. Late nights. Long weekends. Clients (even while your reason for being) can change deliverables, briefs, timelines, not to mention change their minds; they can demand fresh takes on recycled projects … and much more. No wonder exhaustion comes with the territory. A model like Boom’s offers teams instant relief. Engage its vetted, disciplined network for an injection of fresh thinking to reinvigorate projects, disrupt group think, or just stir things up.

Problem: “Hiring open-form skill sets to help future-proof our work force.”

Solution: Dip into an on-demand network like that of Boom Ideanet to access skill sets and specialized channel or category experience to generate concepts and even execute elements, while you assess on-going need or recruit the particular talent required.

Problem: “Time and resources combined with expertise.”

Solution: This one gets at the fundamental problem, doesn’t it? Agencies and in-house teams like the staffing model. You learn the business. You bring a discipline or set of experiences to bear. But even that has limits when workload exceeds on-hand resources. A vetted network like that of Boom offers an off-line alternative. There when you need it. Not adding to overhead when you don’t. PetSmart cultivated a ready pool of on-brand thinkers ready to leap into action whenever needed via Boom. See next gripe.

Problem: “Organizing an agency workforce to meet the demands of continually changing campaign structures.”

Solution: Flex with changing demand by trying a network model like Boom Ideanet. Easier than freelancers, way more firepower for slightly more cost.

PetSmart’s in-house agency did it for campaigns and production; tripling creative output on the same budget. All it took was a forward-thinking leaders (like you!) CMO (John Alpaugh) and ECD (Shane McCall).

Too much selling? Yeah. But breaking with tradition sometimes requires breaking the rules. Boom. #boomyouragency #boomyourbrand

Signed Swood

PS: Again, to download a free infographic on six creative resource options, go here.