NOVEMBER 2019
COMPUTERARTS.CREATIVEBLOQ.COMO
kay, I’ll just come out and
ask it. What client has your
agency had the longest?
Have a good think. Ooh, impressive.
And now this: are you still
producing the same electric, incisive
and knock-your-socks-off creative
today as you did when that brand
first landed in your lap, all shiny
and new and full of possibilities, all
those years ago?
Recently, I found myself thinking
whether the length of a client
relationship affected the quality of the
creative output. Like milk, is there a
time limit when creativity starts to go
off and ideas start to run out?
Just so everyone’s clear, at Purple
Creative, we’re resolutely and
relentlessly pro long-term client
relationships. The longer the better
as far as we’re concerned.
But it’s not a topic that’s spoken
about much, which is odd, because
we believe a long-term client is
essentially the lifeblood of any
agency. Not in the just ‘paying the bills’ sense,
more in the ‘what exciting creative places can
we explore today’ sense.
A long and fruitful liaison fosters a relationship
where an agency can feel like a true creative
partner, rather than being simply a supplier of
creativity. This is all bound up with accountability
and trust. An agency working long-term feels a
greater affinity not just for the brand, but for the
business problem the brand’s trying to solve. This
means more thought goes into solving a creative
brief and a more stringent filter is applied before
work goes out.
More time means more knowledge. We pride
ourselves on digging deep and seeking out
little fascinating nuggets that will capture the
attention and brain space of the audience. This is
COLUMNJAMIE FLEMING
especially true for brands that have
real heritage, where over time you
can read, digest and collate stacks
of archive material, image libraries,
anecdotal stories and histories. This
ultimately allows creative output to
go beyond the obvious and superficial- to really get under the skin of
a subject and connect with the
audience on a deeper level.
Is there a case that knowing
a brand better means you can
get better work done quicker?
Controversial, but that in-depth
knowledge means you spend less
time going down blind creative
alleys, less time researching and
more time on insightful solutions.
Apparently, the average agency/
client relationship is around
three years. Of course, like a good
marriage, you have to keep working
at the relationship (chemistry is key)
to keep things creatively fresh – not
just doing the same things over and
over but constantly suggesting and
developing new, surprising (but relevant) work.
We’ve worked with Glenfiddich for over 12 years
now (12 years!). With Pilsner Urquell it’s seven
years and counting. And Castrol oil and Abuelo,
a family-run Panamanian rum, for a relatively
spritely four years (with hopefully many more
years to come).
Final thought? Winning clients is hard. It’s so
much easier producing dazzling creative work
that makes your current client look amazing and
nails its business problems. So we recommend
looking long-term and making sure that the
creative department is always excited, energised
and raring to go.
Do you think the client/studio relationship has a best-before
date? Tweet @ComputerArts using #DesignMattersA best-before date
on client relationships?
JAMIE FLEMING
HEAD OF COPY,
PURPLE CREATIVE
http://www.purplecreative.co.ukJamie Fleming wonders if long-term client work can maintain quality