WATCH AND LEARN
Design-led companies are proven to be more successful than their competitors and the return on investment from design – and a rise in profile of design among more sophisticated clients – is proving to be good news for design specialists.
As the old joke goes, how many designers does it take to screw in a light bulb? Answer: Does it have to be a light bulb?’ This sums up what the design mindset can bring to the creative process and despite there being a growing trend of generalist creative agencies playing in the design space – and clients increasingly bringing design functions in-house – it would appear that the serious clients who understand the importance of design – whether it’s for new packaging, a rebrand, a website, or a professional annual report – favour turning to the specialists for serious design solutions.
Insight Creative is a creative thinking and design agency, but CEO Steven Giannoulis admits marketers taking a specialist or generalist approach seems to go in cycles and most have tried one way, then the next, and then gone back again. “There is no right or wrong answer and it depends on the client, the discipline, the relationship and so many other factors.”
Giannoulis has worked with both approaches and sees advantages and disadvantages with each. His concern is that branding and design are often not seen as specialist skills and all too often companies get their ad or digital agency to ‘throw something together’.
For some clients it might seem tempting to have all or most of their communication needs catered for under one roof, but many are happy to work with design agencies that have specific skills required for the job – and have proven themselves capable of playing nicely with other partners, rather than attempting a landgrab.
“What works for us is an open and collaborative approach partnering with other specialist partners,” says Dow Goodfolk’s Michael Evans. “This allows us all to be best in class at what we do.”
Kristen Marks, client service and strategy director with Redcactus Design agrees that collaboration is the best route to follow. “We partner and integrate with many specialist and full-service agencies around the world, and pride ourselves in those open and transparent relationships for the betterment of our clients’ brands. Strategic alignment is critical at the commencement of any project, with our specialist skills igniting once the overarching brand and design strategy has been locked down.”
Guy Whatley, director at Saturday, has noticed a number of clients taking design in-house and creating their own in-house design studios. “It’s a cost thing,” he says.
Evans also sees a trend toward internalising design services, which makes sense in certain circumstances. “If that happens though, we still find that external agencies like ours are used for our strategic insight and an ‘outside view in’ can be incredibly helpful when you can’t see the wood from the trees,” he says.
Designers aren’t typically set up for, or focused on, amplification like ad agencies. They’re typically deep strategic thinkers and tend to get under the hood of the brands they work with to ensure they create solid foundations and are able to come up with the right response. But as the potential customer touchpoints have expanded online, agencies have had to expand their digital repertoire and understanding of the full customer experience both digitally and in person is critical to quality design. Dow has had to evolve with the times and in December 2017 it acquired the team at Goodfolk to further boost the digital design offering to clients.
When clients work with multiple agencies, respect for the specialisation that each partner agency brings to the table is the key to collaboration. And that means that boundaries are usually understood.
“Our mutual success depends on it,” says Evans. “We work in tandem with data specialists, advertising, media, PR, research etc. – sometimes all at once. What is important is that everyone is on the same page and working toward the same goal for the client. Obviously this is easier to achieve with truly specialist agencies as everyone understands what their own responsibilities are.”
Redcactus works with full-service traditional agencies around the world across all functions of their clients’ business including comms, PR, BTL, media and digital, with an approach that is open and transparent. In the spirit of integration, it joins together in strategic direction, and then tends to split off into specialisations. For a brand to have one voice, Marks says it is absolutely necessary for all agencies to work together and create a layered but mutually focused approach.
Marks believes there has been a return to specialist agencies, with a desire for design expertise that is difficult to achieve when one is trying to be everything to everyone. “When agencies can integrate and align, without the usual politics, clients find the process more enjoyable and the outputs far more efficient and effective.”
Working by project requires an unfaltering focus on every single aspect of every single job. You are only as good as your last effort, and there is no guarantee of future work. But as Marks says: “If you get the nuts and bolts right, you can be confident in the future.”
And while the project mentality is increasingly common among clients, those projects often turn into regular work if the quality is high.
“We see all of our clients as long-term strategic partners with our agency as a soundboard,” says Evans. “Even when a project comes to a close and the bulk of the work is done, the conversation never really ends. What we find is that our projects tend to lead to an improvement in our clients' businesses, which in turn leads to more opportunity. So even though projects may only seem singular, we know that what we are doing is working to improve their business so that there is more opportunity at the next phase.”