Mistake #3 - I'll Have What He's Easting

3) I'll Have What He's Eating

Don’t ask an agency to solve a brand problem in 2 weeks that has been years in the making. Companies should consider providing an interactive agency assignment that is highly discrete and bounded. Perhaps it’s a short-term online product promotion. Spec creative may be requested to amplify the agency’s thinking but care should be taken to evaluate an agency’s full capabilities -- versus simply making final decisions based on executional appeal. Create an interim step in the assignment that allows for give and take between the client and the agency. This provides an opportunity to learn how well the two parties can communicate and learn from each other. Remember that the time spent between major campaigns is the majority of time companies will spend together with their agency partner; it’s the time to build trust, business knowledge and an understanding of how to innovate on behalf of the brand.


Best Practice:

Agency track records are important but the real test is how they run their next race. People exit. Interactive tools and trends change constantly. Google trumps Yahoo. Keywords give way to social media. Tweets supplant email. And change begins all over again. Put your interactive agency candidates to the test on one aspect of your business to see if they can get to your finish line in the present -- and paint a lane to future marketing opportunities.