Just how do client agency structures affect the creative media ideas that result? John Grant traces the evolution of these relationships and the type of work they produce   

 

Back in the early 1990s when media was still an ad agency department in most markets and most networks, the ‘big idea’ was king. 

 

The ad idea would be developed and ‘sold’ into the client by the creatives and account executives. Only then would the ancillary departments – media planners, direct marketing, PR, the nascent digital departments and others – be invited to participate. 

 

They would be asked to take the idea into different c hannels and amplify it but the watchword was consistency; the same idea in 20 places. 

 

The role of creative media ideas with this approach is limited; stunts such as painted taxis or bus-stops acted like news flashes to draw attention to a static idea by popping up in surprising places. Ad agencies called this ‘the beermats’. 

 

But times have changed and I am not alone in thinking the age of the big- ad-that-actually-works is largely over. There are always glorious exceptions such as the Sony Bravia or the UK Honda campaigns, which appear to have had a big impact on the business as well as picking up creative awards galore. 

 

DECLINING ROLE OF TV 

In general, however, too much of modern life and consumer behaviour – ad literacy, inflation, resistance, fragmentation, clutter, digital lifestyles – are going in the wrong direction. Major brands such as Amex (from 80% TV to only 35%) have shifted media spend accordingly. Even Sir Martin Sorrell is talking about a WPP, which will be “two-thirds digital” in five years. 

 

The next phase in the development of client-agency relationships was the integrated communications planning (ICP) model, which has become allpervasive in the past five years. The central planning conceit is the ‘big idea’ – a general scheme. There’s always a row about who had the original idea but everyone from the ad agency through to the media agency, PR agency and even the digital agency wants to co-ordinate the process. 

 

Clients, including Coca-Cola and Diageo, have also developed their own proprietary ICP models. The ‘big idea’ is elaborated into a thicket of touchpoints and c hannels, involving the audience in community, viral and other fun and games. If successful, this configuration can create a ‘big bang’ effect. Creative media c hannels are much more central in these campaigns – as involvement devices. In Nike’s Run London you see digital media used to register, recruit friends to run with you, make training pledges, even to send you a text with your time when you finish the race. 

 

The process relies upon a multiagency task force, but for all of its apparent central importance, the ‘big idea’ is often the product of a very haphazard and cursory process – mostly some kind of brainstorming. The task force and detailed process map act to guide execution. 

 

However, there are problems with this model; few big ideas plucked from brainstorming are good ones. A good idea is something that needs to be evolved out of a deep appreciation of a problem and the means to solve it, and also calls for a certain amount of creative flair. We could all think of movie ideas at a dinner party but it takes months or years of slog and a touch of Spielberg genius to make something that is actually any good. For every Run London there are plenty of mildly embarrassing white elephants; too ornate, top down, too contrived and too cumbersome. 

 

PHASE THREE 

The third phase, which is where we are now, is about little ideas, often in creative media formats, which form the seed for something very catchy and engaging. People on all sides have been talking about this concept in recent months even though the idea of running a brand through a molecule of smaller ideas, often built up from new media formats, will not seem new to the likes of Nike and Tango. They have been doing it for 10 years now. 

 

This type of campaign can only generally be arrived at when creative people and media people and brand strategists and even product designers work closely together. It is the result of a long conversation, not a one-off brainstorming. Ikea has a saying that ‘big ideas start small’. Creative media formats can inspire new ideas straight from the brand challenge. In the UK, Oxfam’s “I’m in” text campaign comes from a little twist; let’s use SMS rather than coupons. The result is something immediate, ‘now’ and compelling, the seed for many other good ideas, and including advertising, celebrities, postit style notes on magazines. 

 

Charities have to work especially hard to engage appeal-fatigued supporters these days, so it is no wonder that many charity campaigns centre on a creative media hook: the censorship idea for Amnesty in Poland, the chainsaw ‘greentone’ for Greenpeace, Unicef’s rubbish bins that look like starving children. These ideas are not stunts, they are thought-provoking, interactive, and above all, strategic. 

 

In more conventional sectors, just look at the galvanising effect that unconventional media formats can have; the so-called 360- degree approach pioneered by brands like Tango. 

 

Recent examples include the Lynx ‘Clicker’ – a toy used to record how many women flirt with you. Or Onitsuka ‘Breath of Heroes’ – capturing breath direct from the mouths of 1964 Japanese Olympians and sealing it in special commemorative cans. Ideas like these take a straightforward product and give the advertising (and word of mouth) something much more interesting to talk about. 

 

MOVING FORWARD 

The challenge now is not to integrate big idea campaigns, but rather to integrate the working processes and relationships between agencies into a thriving conversation, so that small ideas can be the seed of innovation. 

 

The old full-service model needed to be broken down but now we have to put some of the pieces together again. Many people I meet on both the creative and the media side are looking for new ways to work together. Companies on both sides have, over the past five years, been moving to work as a more flexible virtual team on client projects. 

 

Creative agencies are striking up relationships with media and brand strategists, and media agencies have also been striking up relationships with creative teams. 

 

The next logical step will be for significant joint ventures or even mergers between the two types of company to emerge. Wait and watch this space. 

 

John Grant is a consultant and contributing editor to Cream. He was co-founder of St Luke’s and is the author of The Brand Innovation Manifesto