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The problem is the ranks of clients are filled with inexperienced people who:
a) don’t understand marketing
b) can’t make decisions because they don’t have the power to
c) don’t want to make decisions because they’re scared of their higher-ups
So we end up in this endless non-commitment to anything, chasing our tails until the decision makers finally get involved.
And honestly, I’d much rather do what I do than deal with client bureaucracy all day. And also too many people seem to think the client is paying them to indulge their latest creative fantasy, which is a one-way ticket to Furytown for everyone.
Anyone who complains about account people has no idea how hard their job is. They actually protect us from the client—if you had to deal with them directly, you would go out of your mind—and probably not get your work sold. Work as a team with your account people, not as an adversary. They’ll go to bat for you if you do
Wish some of my former creatives understood this way of thinking.
We ARE looking at the big picture. The reality is that we’re in a service industry and we all work at the pleasure of clients who want to pay for our skills. Calling out a client at inappropriate or ill-timed moment can come at a cost, including the ability of all team members to continue to collect a paycheck.
would be pretty cool if we had something like that so people could work more reasonable hours and not cry in bathroom stalls but then maybe everyone would just go in house 😬
sometimes it can be helpful to consider things from the clients point of view.
i know it’s easy to get siloed into a mentality when you are surrounded by like minded individuals who are all viewing a project with similar perspective.
also, i know you already know this but: it is a business at the end of the day
Go on?...
It’s a case by case situation. Much of account is about reading the room and adapting appropriately... I have a pretty crazy client and if I’m going to call her out on her shit, I try to address it in privately and not in front of the whole team
I would love to call my creative team out for their own crazy shit as much as I would my clients. More enjoyable would be to have my CD call the client out and then get taken off the business when the CEO doesn’t want to lose the business. However if you have a good client who trusts you, you can call them out.
Client wanted unreasonable timelines met.
CD complained that Account never stands up to client.
I pushed back on client.
CD did the work anyway and presented it to client.
I looked like the asshole.
Client was pissed that I brought up to him "for no reason"
CD didn't back me up.
Client damage was done.
Managing Director called me out.
CD remained silent again.
That's why.
When creative “leaders” don’t proactively build relationships and mutual trust and respect with their Account/strategy team, but then expect Account to build them the space to “win awards” and make the work they want to make...
i'm wondering this as well, i've been assuming it's a "we don't want to lose the client for being 'difficult to work with'" sort of thing, which is very understandable but concerning with regards to what it means for our industry when you go big picture
Unfortunately the big picture these days is keeping the lights on, and “great work” is extremely subjective. Clients need to report back to their boss about the ROI of campaigns their boss gave them budget for, not if it got a pencil.
Great answers so far. Also, if you want to provide examples of the "crazy shit" (we all have different definitions of it) that you're referring to, I can provide a more specific or meaningful answer. Many times what you might consider crazy shit is just stuff you may not have the full context behind it that would explain why the client did what they did. It's really a wide range of possible answers to your question, as several have already commented above. I do try (within reason) to give my teams a glimpse of the client side, their struggles and politics and drama, to reduce our own agency team anxiety. When the team is aware of the clients state of mind and motivations they take It far less personally. It can also be helpful because sometimes the team together can come up with a compromise solution to help the clients out. At the end of the day it's not only that we're a business but we're in a client service business commissioned to service their needs.
A lot of times day to day clients are at the lowest rung of their organization. They have no power internally so they exert the little power they have over the agency. That said, the best thing the account people, strategy people and creatives higher up on your account can do is take the time to walk the client through why certain decisions were made from a creative and communications standpoint. Many agencies are really good at the what and not the why that gets clients to buy and not destroy good work
Clients want demonstrated results/more sales. We want to make a funny/cool ad.
Most times that’s it. We get bogged down in our own world and forget that not all campaigns can rest on “brand awareness” or other vagueness. They want sales. Actual sales. (And we act like putting price point in things is like killing our super artistic vision.) I have seen so,so, so many cool ideas that would have been really fun to make, but had nothing to do with a brand or sales at all. (I’ve seen the same exact idea pitched to a shoe company, a juice company and a bank, and it was made for one of them and flopped hard. Because of course it had nothing at all to do with the brand, it was just a creative’s funny idea.)
And, I’ll add that marketing people at most clients are not generally superstars in terms of brains or ambition. They are just doing what they think their boss wants and going home at 5. And if we keep trying to go over their heads to "explain” it to their bosses, they then look bad and can submarine us.
As hard of a pill as it is to swallow, we are in the client services business. Its that simple.
Or: Creative people... why don’t you trust your account team more?
The days of robust agency to client leadership are fading. The mandate is to stay in business and try to keep layoffs to a minimum Clients can pick and choose or develop/execute internally so Account can’t do much more than make sure the brief is at least somewhat well shaped and purposeful beyond that, one shouldn’t expect much more.
🔥take: most clients are now millennials. Millennials do not want to speak on the phone if they can avoid it. This means more emails/texts... Which makes nuanced connection more difficult.
Fear of losing client.
$$$$$. my last agency was so broke they would take anything. for the agency’s largest piece of business, the client refused to sign a contract and would only do thing on a project by project basis so he could walk away at any time [which he would threaten to do at least weekly] other agencies told him off, but they were so desperate for the revenue they’d do anything.
When you are broke I feel it finally humbles the Creatives because they can’t go putting on airs anymore, which they hate. They take into consideration client requests, meeting deadlines, staying within budget and all the things good business should be doing — aside from pushing out-of-the-box creative.
Being in the client service business is one thing but making poor decisions that impact the larger team is another. 🤷♂️