What’s The Real Key To Finding Your Muse?

(A three part series on the process and how to separate the purest wheat from the finest chaff)

The Ultimate Selection Tool…

An assumption is built into the agency/client mating dance that both will be partnering with the other on a specific and not-so-small mission: build business. But as stated earlier the process when focused on a project assignment may yield a wide range of outcomes that can be useful, actionable or just plain wrong. Too much like a poker game or darts and not enough like a true collaboration where the best and most effective ideas always spring.

So are we just to accept that this is an inherent weakness in the deliberation and press on? Well, no.

Too many places along the standard RFP path to go off the track or never be really on the rails that in our mind suggests we should instead narrow the bandwidth of the entire evaluation criteria. Perhaps to focus on something that is at once powerful and also revealing about an agency’s brainpower and way of doing things.

It’s light bulb time….

All communication, no matter what the specific objective, is about changing behavior. We know that effective communication will always be built on a foundation of relevance to the recipient. The sequence is as follows: relevance leads to effective communication, which leads to preference, which leads to sales. So where does relevance come from?

Effective strategies and creative solutions must come from a fountain of – insight. If this is any affirmation on the importance of the subject: according to the Intelligent New Business Survey. When asked about the most effective way for agencies to engage with the prospective client the top box score of 92% went to you guessed it – insight.

Audience-centric evaluation

Our recommendation for selecting an agency is target audience insight. Could be category insight, too. But perhaps audience insight might lead to the most satisfying dialogue. Peeling the onion another layer, the yardstick of agency selection analysis would derive from identifying key areas of lifestyle relevance and how the brand can connect successfully. This steers the process away from complete campaign execution and towards the foundation on which you can mutually build a successful and effective program – based on audience insight.

This is no cheap date or letting the agency off lightly. It requires some research. Some study time, some thoughtful evaluation, creative interpretation and strategic thinking to connect the dots. The agency evaluation on this platform, by virtue of its focus, is more apple-to-apple for the selection participants.

And it doesn’t feel like (to an agency) you’re giving away all of your intellectual property. The “poker-like” nature of the review process would be less palpable and the journey more engaging. Mix two parts chemistry with two parts insight and the process will go from murky to clear.

What do you think? Let us know…