True Love on Paper [Part 2]

Last post discussed three essential questions you can ask in evaluating a potential creative partner. 1) Question #1: Who do you want to work with? 2) Question #2: How well do they meet your specific requirements? 3) Question #3: If there are gaps, can their approach and experience overcome them? Below I look at these in a little more detail.

Question #1: Who do you want to work with?

Out of all the firms you’ve invited to your conference room, one of them has stood out as the one you liked the best. You want to award the work to this firm but have reservations. They’re too small, too big, they’re expensive; they don’t have enough experience, they have too much experience.

Good advice is to put this firm in your finalist category right away.

If you have a good feeling about them as individuals, you’re getting a flavor for the interpersonal relationship you’ll develop in the course of working together. Many, many times this relationship leads to the best work. You understand each other and communicate well — the firm goes the extra mile for you. You get their best thinking.

Question #2: How well do they meet your specific requirements?

Great personality can’t replace specific creative and technical skills. And yet, getting too fixated on specific items from The List may arbitrarily blow the best firm right out of the race. Here are some leadership qualities to look for:

>> Do they have good taste?

Graphic design and advertising are not high-brow disciplines. Their outcomes are mostly aimed at mass appeal based on fundamental human drives. You don’t need an art history degree to determine if a firm’s work is “good” or not. Do you like it? Good enough.

>> Do they have vision?

When you talk to the right firm about their past work, or your project, you hear them talk not about tools and tactics, but ideas.

>> Are they experienced marketers?

An understanding of branding and marketing principles helps a good agency partner get to the root of an issue. As the firm talks you through its portfolio, listen for examples of problem-solving and strategy.

>> Are they strategic?

The right firm will recommend a creative approach not because they like it, but because it also makes business sense now and in the near future. They can articulate why.

>> How much relevant business experience do the leaders have?

In the era of virtual teams the value of creative and business leadership has grown. How big or small a firm is can be less important than the experience of its leadership team and senior associates.

>> What kind of business continuity can the partner demonstrate?

Determine that the firm will be around tomorrow to complete your project and provide ongoing support. Ask them what they do to record their progress and back up your project files.

>> For interactive projects, what are their technical leadership capabilities?

Find out how involved leaders will get in understanding and ensuring accountability to your technical requirements.

>> Will the people who sold you the project service the project?

Ensure you’re not buying into a sales pitch from firm leadership but getting a junior associate for the job.

>> Last, do they seem interested in your project?

Intellectual or creative passion to solve your marketing problem goes a long way.

Question #3: If there are gaps, can their approach and experience overcome them?

If you’ve found a firm you like, with the above qualities, you probably have a winner. However, companies can still get hung up on specific items in their List. Here’s where you decide how essential those specific criteria are.

Don’t back down on your project criteria: the right firm must be able to articulate how it will solve the essential requirements of your job (e.g., design a package, build a web site, create an ad campaign) or have good reasons why it recommends another approach. But other requirements you think are essential could prove less crucial. Like size.

The number of people actually required to deliver a project is fewer than you think. Ask your prospective partner if they’ll supply project leadership, creative leadership and two to three team members per discipline in the design and development areas. Business continuity and leadership trump size.

What good looks like

A successful project is more than a robotic exercise, churning out safe but highly polished creative products from some remote, genius factory. That’s an old myth, one which denies the invaluable role of collaboration in telling great stories. Which is what creative work is about. Going back to the dating analogy, trust your fortune cookie when you evaluate what you think you need in a creative firm versus what your instincts and experience are telling you: An unconventional beauty will turn your world on its end.