This is a post by a dear friend of mine Ahmed El Baz, his experience as a manager of international brands is first rate, his dedication and focus reminds me of the best boxers in the ring.
-
A conversation that took place at an undisclosed time & place…
Him: You gotta keep pushing your agency, keep them on the tip of their toes always
Me: Why?!
Him: We can’t afford to leave them until they get soft, or get busy with another client… They must always feel the urgency of our briefs… They gotta be focused on our business… We gotta win their hearts & minds
Me: Ummmm… Ok, how about you lead this and show me how it’s done?
Him: No, that’s your job… Besides, you’re the expert… The one with the advertising background
Me: Exactly! That’s why I’m never gonna do what you’re asking me to do
Him: Oh, that’s concerning ya Baz… Why?!
Me: A million reasons… Do you have the time?!
Him: (in a challenging manner)… Humor me!
Me:Ok, here it goes… First off, my job means I do it my way… This is not my way… And, I regretfully tell you, it’s not a way to go in any professional manner… A client who is always I’m a hurry is a sloppy client… A client who always tries to mandate his way or the highway is a client who an agency would never want to keep, & would never give it it’s best people or service, cuz why put my best resources after a client who would drop me at any point in time… You do not win the hearts and minds of Creatives or Account Managers by being consistently around them, flooding them with requests, & amending their every submission as if they are “Machine Operators” sitting in front of their Apple computers to make your logo bigger, or create a confusion for the consumer by enlarging every single detail and element in the design, as if there is no damn communication objective written in your brief… Believe me, as a guy who spent years in the advertising kitchen, I would hate you as a client… Actually, I wouldn’t be surprised if they are making fun of us in the Studio department now as we speak… They don’t wanna receive out calls… It now takes me 2-3hrs to reach any of the account team on the phone, and we have 3 people working on our account… An ad agency is your partner… Believe me, they love the brand and wanna make it a lovemark even more than you… Communication is all they own, they can’t afford to screw up there… When we have the product, the price, the place, and the promotion to control… They would be more passionate about our own brand than us if we ONLY give them some space and trust them… We always talk about “out of the box ideas”… Do you know what the box is ya _____? WE,… We are the box ya _____! You want a Talk of the Town campaign? Then stop imposing yourself and your ideas on the agency… Or, just go work at an agency if this is your passion… Give me some space ya ____ … Give me se space and trust me… Believe me, the agency will deliver great work… And, I promise you, if they don’t, I will make sure we deliver a campaign your way without any delays… I guarantee you!
*** end***
And we ended up delivering a kick ass campaign that soared with all the brand’s Tracker attributes through the roof 🙂