In my last post, I wrote about the ever higher authenticity expectations that consumers have of their brand interactions. To meet those expectations, marketers spend millions with agency partners and agonize over how to structure their agency rosters.
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In fact, we found that two-thirds of clients are establishing lead or full-service agency partnership models in hopes of achieving integrated communications. But if you ask clients their likelihood of recommending their current agency partners on their ability to deliver the most target-resonant creative or touchpoint ideas, you get embarrassing NPS scores (see the graphic at left).
What gives?
Here’s the problem: the cast of characters on the typical agency roster is too far removed from today’s target audiences to routinely and convincingly clear a higher authenticity bar.
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By contrast, the ideal model would have clients reaching outside of the typical agency box to pull in partners who are much closer to—and who intimately know—the target audience (see the “amoeba” graphic at left). For these creative partners, the oculesics, paralanguage, and vocalics of the target audience come naturally (see my last post if this is Greek to you).
To take an example, while heading up marketing with Toyota, Jim Farley and team used this amoeba model to engineer deep resonance and authenticity into the Tundra re-launch blitz. Behind the curtains, Toyota augmented its standing agency roster by pulling in a dozen different creative partners who were deeply knowledgeable of the “true trucker” target audience.
To be sure, this model calls for greater collaboration between agencies and these smaller creative partners. And that requires a firm hand from the client coupled with an ability to instill a sense of security in lead agencies—Farley and team were able to deliver here.
The model isn’t right for all brands or all situations, by any stretch, but its more likely to regularly deliver authentic creative than most existing models. If you’re asking yourself, “Can I really muster the courage to try this?”, you owe it to yourself to also ask, “What’s the price of falling below the authenticity bar?”
MLC members: take a look at the webinar replay of the Toyota case study, in which Kim McCullough, head of marketing communications, shares her perspective on implementing the model. The full case study includes details on how Toyota selected the right creative partners and how they managed agency roles and responsibilities differently to create an atmosphere of collaboration.
If you like that, you’ll love the broader study: Deepening Communications Resonance, available to MLC members here.
