BENEFITS OF WORKING WITH A SMALL AD AGENCY.

When I launched SALUK & CO. after some time with an incredible company like PepsiCo, I initially gave up on the possibility of working with a company like that. I figured, until I experienced significant growth, scale would be an impediment to working with a brand of that magnitude. But after a few months, having an opportunity to work with brands like Blackened Whiskey, Invivo Wines, Bluecoat Gin, etc. on national and regional campaigns something dawned on me. Companies who aren’t working on at least some projects with independent agency, are getting absolutely hosed.

“Peter…” you say, “Isn’t that at least a bit self-serving?”

And I would answer… “Yes. It’s a little bit self-serving, but it’s also true.”

Let’s just dive in, shall we? (and I’ll save the cost-benefit for the final point, because that’s a given.)

SMALL AGENCIES – AN EXTENSION OF YOUR BRAND

When working at a global agency, owned by a holding company, the amount of conversations I’ve had about the agency’s P&L were many. And you know how they played out? Like this:

“We’re getting killed on ________, _________ and ________. We’re going to move those clients to your team.”

So what happens is the team is over-worked, the agency doesn’t add employees to the team, and the ones that are there start becoming order takers, looking to complete each assignment as quickly as possible, instead of bringing any value to the equation. And very quickly thereafter? Burnout. Attrition rates for agencies? 30%.  That means that the team will have to bring on another person, train them, immerse them in your brand, and on and on and on.

The counter to that? Boutique shops. Often, if not always, the owners/founders of the agency are the people you will be working with. No bait-and-switch of pitch personnel vs. actual work team. To a small agency, every client is a huge client. Smaller agencies can provide each client with personalized attention because they have fewer clients. In my experience, small agencies have brought to the table ideas on top of what was originally contracted, and the fact that leadership is often working or certainly leading each project, attrition rates don’t have as much of an effect.

For small agencies, it’s not an assembly line of clients. Each client is a finely crafted, hand-made product that we value

SMALLER IS NIBMLER

This one goes back to the fact that at smaller agencies, leadership/senior management is actively working on the campaigns rather than on the business side of the agency…but imagine if you will, you come to a big agency with a project. You brief your account leadership team, they brief their team and decide how to approach the project/campaign, they then brief their creative team who (hopefully) gets to work. When they create something, that creative then has to go back up that same chain of command before making it back to the brand.

In a small agency, setting, the team you brief is the team that will (likely) be working on your campaign. Often, the ideation can happen collaboratively right then and there.

In an age where being fast to respond to cultural and social trends is so valuable, this is an incredible edge that smaller agencies have over holding companies.

CULTURE

If you’ve walked through one big agency, you’ve walked through them all. Very fancy. Clean lines. A modern staircase or two. Kitchens with snacks. Maybe even a game room. “We have a great culture here.” Someone says.

Bullshit.

That’s not culture. And thinking that’s culture is what contributes to the aforementioned 30% attrition rate.

Culture is when the people who work together are truly on the same page as to what the purpose of our work is. And it also helps if they get along and genuinely like each other.

When you’re working with 5, 10…even 15 people, it’s genuinely possible to achieve that. When you’re at an agency of 50, 150, 250…that gets much more difficult. Politics start coming into play, backstabbing, and cliques.

I’ve been on a Nike kick recently, and after reading Shoe Dog, and watching AIR, both often spoke about “the old days of Nike”. There’s a reason that people, companies, brands are nostalgic for the startup days. Because that’s when everyone was rowing the boat the same way.

“AIR” movie poster

My favorite quote about culture is from Pittsburgh Steelers coach, Mike Tomlin, and I’ve used it often. He said “I want volunteers, not hostages.” It’s a lot easier to find volunteers happy to do the hard, long work of creating campaigns, writing copy, building spreadsheets and decks at smaller agencies, than at large agencies where employees feel they’re just a cog.

Pittsburgh Steelers Coach - Mike Tomlin

QUICK TURNAROUND TIME

Not to be confused with being nimble. Being nimble (to me) means being able to adapt to cultural, social and technological trends. Turnaround time is about getting shit done…fast.

We have literally turned around requests same day. It’s something that I’m incredibly proud of. Not because I think it’s the best way to work, and it should be the exception, not the rule…but it’s because it means that my team was well-versed in the brand guidelines, quickly understood what the ask was, and was talented enough to execute it at a high level.

Big agencies? “Well, we’ll have to see if we can find a team that is available to work on this.” Followed by a brief, followed by work.

COST BENEFIT + TRANSPARENCY

The one that you were really waiting for, if you’re a brand or company. So…it’s story time…

Flashback approximately 10 years. Peter is working for an agency owned by a holding company planning an out of home campaign for a major auto client. The way that I was trained as a young buck was to reach out to all the vendors in the area, get their avails and pricing, and provide my recommendations based on quality of avails and potential creative execution vs. price.

“No no no…that’s not how we do things here. We have an out of home department, just reach out to them with your request, and they’ll fill it for you.”

As a young employee? You think…great! I can jump to another project!

As a client? I’d be PISSED. The third party that they were using added a commission on top of what the established fee was. And this was a significant campaign.

That’s just one example. I have a half dozen more that would make a brand manager’s hair stand up on their arms.

Similarly, big agencies use more people than necessary on shoots, bill more hours on creative development, price up images and visuals…you get the idea. I mean we talked about P&L in our first topic.

Small agencies create direct, personal relationships with vendors, because they know the value that the extra calls, emails, lunches, drinks create. Not just in cost savings, but also in added value opportunities. Small agencies also will not add glut to productions, or add time to visual development or copywriting. Everything is lean.  

To wrap it up, it is totally understandable that brands and marketers choose to work with large agencies that are “known” quantities. The marketers put a lot on the line when they choose to work with an agency. Not just financially, but also they put their own reputation on the line. If a campaign doesn’t inspire consumers, it’s their jobs that are going to be in jeopardy. In no way do I recommend replacing large agencies on massive-scale projects, but on one-off productions and campaign/media ideation, it makes total sense to bring in a smaller shop to provide a unique and individual view on a project.