When you’re in the business of genuine partnership, it is imperative to keep an eye on how the world is treating your partners…
Across the marketing & communications landscape fundamental and dramatic change is impacting all our clients, in almost all facets of business.
“Retail” is being turned upside down. Digital technologies are facilitating direct customer relationships. Many aspects of day to day marketing interactions are being automated.
Lead times are contracting. Media is fragmenting further. Specialist skills & disciplines are exploding.
As in many spheres of life, the tech space has led the way in trying to come to grips with this fast changing environment.
In the software industry it led to “Agile Software Development” and the 12 development principles in The Manifesto for Agile Software Development.
Have a look here at Wikipedia’s definition.
It’s fascinating how many parallels there are to marketing, communications and the creative agency industry; the creation of high value, high risk, bespoke IP, multi-disipline teams & fast changing competitive environments.
Subsequently you may have seen the S&P team spending a lot of time over the past two years working not just on great ideas – but more agile processes to deliver great work more consistently and in stronger, more enduring partnership relationships with our clients.
Our new way of working, which is centred on delivering highly specialist project teams, with each member bringing the best of skills in their specific area of expertise to address client projects, is really gaining traction. The flow of quality work through the agency is testament to this.
Philosophically it’s a big step for all of us. The fact that ‘outcomes’ determine resource rather than ‘best allocation’ of existing resource can be a challenging notion initially for some.
For clients it can be initially unsettling with changing faces around the table dependent upon the nature of the project itself. For our people it can also be unsettling, even threatening from a security perspective, but once they have been part of project teams with this focus and our methodology any uncertainty tends to dissipate.
This is especially so when everyone realises that consistency of thinking is preserved via robust Planning – and modern team project methodology is not a traditional freelance model.
Change is not only a constant but an evolutionary inevitability and this change to the way in which we think and work is a necessity if we are to continue to provide our client partners with the contribution they not only expect but rather deserve.