SEVEN STEPS TO A MORE AGILE AGENCY

Nathan Archambault | nkarch@gmail.com | @nkarch

The old agency model is facing a forced retirement.Client relationships have splintered. The traditional methods by

which agencies profited are shrinking or disappearing. Clients want

more effective work and they want it faster and cheaper.

Agencies have a choice.Become more nimble, flexible

and cost-effective... or fade away.

If an agency doesn’t adhere to heightened

client expectations, its clients will

find an agency that does.

It’s time to build a more agile agency. Here’s how.

Reduce logistics. Today’s agency doesn’t need the same

departments that were once a centerpiece

to the creative offering. Maybe that means

folding project management into account

management. Maybe it means closing your

studio and relying more on outside vendors.

Every agency is different, but every agency

process needs to be looked at, evaluated

and simplified however possible.

1

What departments are redundant, outdated or inefficient?

Ask your agency:

Operate like a newsroom.It’s time for agencies to get out

of the meeting business and

get into the making business.

The old model has too much

overhead, too much process and

too many barriers getting in the

way of the work. An agency should

feel like a living organism with the

sole goal of producing great work,

and nothing else should matter or

get in the way.

2

What can we do to get out of the way of the work?

Ask your agency:

Replace perfection with experimentation.In the past, clients demanded perfection. The

agencies that delivered it thrived. These days,

experimentation returns more on investment.

Google launches everything in beta and future

updates are expected and (mostly) welcome.

The important thing today is to get your

product, service or campaign to market.

Once people have access to it, gather feedback,

revise and repeat.

3

Ask your agency: What can we make today and

worry about making better tomorrow?

Hire doers, not thinkers.Agencies used to be able to hire

creative teams to sit around and think

of big ideas. But teams that lack the

craft to build the ideas they come up

with aren’t pulling their weight. They’re

requiring the agency to hire someone

else to execute and bring the vision to

life. The jig is up, big thinkers: Being

clever and having good taste is no

longer a job.

4

Who actually makes things around here?

Ask your agency:

Cast for talent. Interpersonal relationships and unique skills matter more than

staffing plans. When filling an open position, be open to any creative

solution, not just the title you’re looking to fill. An agile agency wants

to find people with the right mindset, regardless of whether or how

they fit into a particular department. When an agency hires people

instead of titles, it can cast for projects, not staff for them.

5

Are we hiring the best people first, and determining their role later?

Ask your agency:

Deconstruct the process. Unlike when advertising meant TV

and print, each project is different

from the last. And it doesn’t make

sense to implement the same

process for every project. Michael

Lebowitz, Founder and CEO of Big

Spaceship, gives his teams a

framework instead of a process.

This allows each team to operate

as a mini-agency, bubbling up

unique processes that lead to

more unique work.

6

Are we finding new paths to the end goal of creativity?

Ask your agency:

Integrate every department.The different stages of any given project shouldn’t feel like a baton pass. The brief can’t sit with strategy before

being handed off to the creative department before being handed off to production. When strategy, creative and

technology work together from the start, each team becomes more invested at every stage of the process.

The end result is a better agency product.

7

Is each team member a stakeholder from the beginning?

Ask your agency:

ConclusionAs the agency model evolves, the inflexible will be left behind.Maybe you’re not in a position to change the way your agency operates.

But there is something you can do. Find an agency that believes in agility and

hop on board. That’s exactly what clients are doing.

Nathan Archambault | nkarch@gmail.com | @nkarch

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