A lot has been said and written about the value of an agency doing genuinely great creative work. The debate runs from agency to agency and client to client. Some believe great creative is the whole point. Others think great creative is fine, but creative that actually works is better. Still others do not seem to consider creative product much at all, judging by their portfolios.
Wherever an agency principal lands on that debate, there are a few business realities about great creative that hold true regardless of which side of the argument feels right.
Really Great Creative Reduces New Business Expense
An agency with a genuinely strong book and a track record of recognized work can skip much of the initial vetting process entirely. Clients call asking for a get-to-know-you meeting that opens with some version of "we've seen your work, and we want some of that." That is new business arriving with the hardest part already done. The agency does not have to convince the prospect that great creative is possible. The prospect already believes it, because they have seen the proof.
Really Great Creative Builds Agency Culture
Today's workforce, across multiple generations now working side by side, wants more from a job than a paycheck. Producing work people can genuinely stand behind goes a long way toward building that sense of purpose. Office perks, flexible schedules, bonuses, industry recognition, and a great physical workspace all add to job satisfaction. None of them build pride the way being part of an agency that does great work actually does.
Really Great Creative Is a Recruiting Vehicle
Smaller and mid-sized agencies often struggle to recruit top talent against larger, better-resourced competitors. Great people want to work at great places, and doing great work is one of the clearest signals a prospective hire can use to judge an agency before they ever walk in the door. Agencies are, at their core, made up of the people who work there. As David Ogilvy wrote in Confessions of an Advertising Man, all the assets go down the elevator at five o'clock. The work an agency produces is the clearest evidence a candidate has of what it would actually be like to work there.
Really Great Creative Is More Profitable
A reasonable question follows: does great creative not take longer to produce? Do not great ideas need to be worked and reworked before they are right? Sometimes, yes. But the agencies that consistently produce great work tend to have a system for getting there efficiently. They do targeted research, focus in on real insight, and do not commit anything to paper until they have real clarity about where the idea is going. That discipline often makes the process more efficient, not less. It also tends to be work that can be sold for a premium, because clients can feel the difference between work built on genuine insight and work built on guesswork.
The Long Game
There is no question that great creative requires more upfront focus and effort in the short term. The rewards, though, are real and they compound: lower new business costs, stronger culture, easier recruiting, and better profitability. Best of all, the agency becomes known as the one doing all of that really great work, which makes every one of the other three benefits easier to sustain.
Where do you come down on the great creative debate?
