The workplace is a very different place in 2025 and whilst the arguments around the benefits of flexible working continue to rage, there is little doubt that collaborative working remains important – perhaps more so in today’s intolerant world.
Reading the LIONS “State of Creativity” report for 2024, there is a definite sense of frustration and tension in the ‘perception vs reality gap’ which mirrors what we’ve seen happening over the last 20+ years across the creative industry. 45% of creative partners believing the client/agency relationship was becoming harder whilst 32% of clients felt it was easy.
(https://www.lionscreativity.com/advisory/state-of-creativity)
However, it is the value – both monetary and creative – where a positive client/agency relationship sees the most effective outcome. The report cites some weighty findings that demonstrate the value of open and frank collaboration where it makes it:
- 5 times more likely to find it easier to understand the business problem to be solved
- 13 times more likely to write a better creative brief
- 7 times more like to find it easier to turn insight into ideas
- 4 times more like to find it easier to measure the impact of creative work.
We’ve witnessed a marked change in approach in the past 5 years, some of which relate to the changed working environment but which also perhaps stem from the demographic change in the workforce. Due to the rapid development of mobile phones changing from voice communication channels to being hand held mini computers, communication methods have also altered: over 75% of millennials and Gen Z prefer to text than call.
(https://unplugged.rest/blog/texts-vs-calls#).
The result of such communication change is that the ‘conversation’ or text exchange becomes more one dimensional and linear. Whilst messaging is instant, what’s missing is the opportunity for instant dialogue and there is little opportunity to participate in a group discussion – everything appears more transactional or instructional in nature. It is no surprise that we seem to be seeing this carry over into business exchanges as people are retreating from face to face communications and as more millennials and Gen Z enter the workplace.
The introduction of Zoom and Teams signified another marked change as a result of Covid. There is no doubt they were invaluable tools during lock-down, allowing businesses to adapt and overcome a communication blackout as face to face meetings were impossible. However, are they as effective as in person meetings when it comes to knowledge sharing and creative thinking? Are the meetings slightly stilted and whilst not impossible, is it more difficult to create a genuine, warm relationship through a screen?
Previously, working from home was often used to provide a mechanism for being able to catch up; some breathing space and time to work uninterrupted. The challenge now with flexible working is that the breathing space and time is being replaced with scheduled contact meetings to combat isolation, weekly catch ups to go through queries that were previously quickly resolved via a conversation over the desk. There is also the productivity challenge as projects become stalled waiting for feedback from disparate stakeholders to be collated and then relayed back. Is this conducive to successful project management and implementation? Our experience is that the overall time taken to complete a project has been extended by several weeks due to hybrid/flexible working.
Lost in Translation
One pitfall we’ve also noticed is seeing the inclusion of creative partners at the outset as being unnecessary. A decline in the willingness of senior marketing staff to be genuinely open about the challenges they face, preferring instead to keep agencies at arm’s length and present a brief as a fait-accompli rather than the starting point for the discussion can be counter-productive. It can lead to a lack of understanding around the true challenge and in turn, the proposed solution.
The LION report too cites Creative agencies as feeling less valued as the willingness for upfront collaboration disappears. Increasingly agencies report staff morale is suffering as creatives feel frustrated at being seen as “an extra pair of hands” rather than a partner, instructed to do as they are told rather than working in collaboration to truly experiment with bold ideas. If you focus solely on a “contractor” rather than a “partnership” relationship, there is more likelihood of a proliferation of the “vanilla” rather than “brilliance” in the final output.
This approach increases the danger of something getting lost in translation, both in the initial briefing but also in reverse, when presenting ideas. By not being afforded a meeting to present work direct to senior stakeholders, agencies are unable to know definitely if the creative intent and thinking is communicated as they intend. You can certainly include creative rationale as text narrative in a presentation, but the person most qualified to present this with passion is the designer or creative director involved in its creation. There is no means of knowing if the upward sharing is done without personal or unconscious bias or another agenda to a particular approach.
Marketeers too have been struggling with frustration in getting executives to embrace creativity – due in part to an absence of creative thinkers in the boardroom. Internal politics may also be having an affect on the willingness to collaborate with both in-house and external agencies left frustrated by the ‘play it safe’ approach adopted by middle or senior management.
(https://www.lionscreativity.com/advisory/state-of-creativity).
Tensions between in-house creative teams and their approved external agencies can also hinder collaboration, where in-house teams feel the need to compete with external agencies to demonstrate their worth, and external agencies compete against each other for a share of the work, often expected to free-pitch to demonstrate their worth. While it may feel counter intuitive, collaboration between creative teams, both in-house and external can create better solutions with improved outcomes that create more work for all.
Senior marketing executives in successful organisations achieve success by bringing all their creative teams together into their strategy sessions, an approach which leads to innovative ideas that are aligned to the business needs. This provides more ‘bang for their buck’ in contrast to employing them in a series of transactional engagements.
Collaboration can raise the bar to a new high when it’s done properly. It requires openness from both parties. As Victoria Sjardin, VP Marketing, International, The Kraft Heinz Company said in the LIONS report:
“You will succeed or fail based on you as a client. You are half of the relationship. If there is a problem, 50% of it is your problem”.
The agency is, of course, the other part.
So as with any relationship, honesty and openness are needed on all sides. The ability to really understand and embrace collaboration can help stop the blame game – however collaboration can often feel uncomfortable and may not be for the faint hearted as initial concepts and pre-conceived ideas may be challenged. But by being open to fresh ideas and a different perspective, everyone involved can feel some purpose in developing a better solution.
We think the world could really do with a lot more of this right now.
Cohesion Design is a creative agency working within the insurance sector. Established in 2003 they have over 35 years knowledge working in the insurance sector.