Why you need more voices in the room.
When I first came into the branding world (many moons ago), I was struck by how cloistered the whole creative process was. An account director had a cocktail with the client to seal the deal. The account director relayed the information to an underling who put together the dry-as-a-bone creative brief. The creative brief was handed off to the creative department, where NO ONE from the account side was allowed in. The creative department (managed by a holier-than-God creative director) came up with the BIG IDEA. And then the whole process coalesced in a nail-biter meeting where the client swooned and said it was the idea of the century.
OK. This usually happens more on Mad Men than in real life. But the premise of only a few people “touching” the brand and a only a few people approving the brand is still the normal course of business in the branding world.
More often this is what happened. Instead of one big idea, the creative department comes up with three ideas, hoping to hedge their bets. The client sees them and instantly starts to “Frankenstein” them. “How about if we just take a little bit from this idea and mash it with that idea?”
Then the creative team digs in their heels. “We’re the experts here. We don’t try to do your job, so you shouldn’t try to do our job.” The client sheepishly persists or the creative team cries uncle and gives in.
Regardless. It’s not a great process — and it often wrecks the chance for good work.
Here’s the problem. Branding thrives when it’s viewed as a team sport — not just for the C-suite, but for people from across the company. But most branding agencies are terrified of opening up the process to more than just a few decision makers. We get it. Bringing in lots of voices can be messy if the process isn’t tightly facilitated. But here’s why bringing MORE VOICES into the branding process is such a powerful thing to do. (And in our next post, we’ll share how you manage all of these different viewpoints.)
More buy-in.
When people have a genuine voice in the creative process, they’ll be proud of what they were part of — and serious advocates for it.
Better culture.
Nothing says “I trust you” to a front-line worker more than inviting them to be part of defining and crafting the companywide brand.
Better creative.
Just because you get the big bucks, doesn’t mean you’re actually in touch with the customer’s pain points and love points. Getting perspectives from all levels and all departments ensures better thinking is woven into the creative deliverables.
Quicker timelines.
By bringing together more people, you can move more quickly. Ideas come faster and decisions get made sooner.
Deeper client relationship.
By enabling the “co-creation” of the brand process, you will create a serious bond with your client that is based on an awesome experience and a rich engagement.
We too had reservations about opening up the branding process, but once we crafted and honed our more-voices-in-the-room methodology, we’ve never looked back.
Stay tuned for blog posts on our workshop methodology. You’ll be amazed by how effective simple rules and a good sense of humor can lead to brands that everyone feels invested in.