An inside look at the inefficiencies and superfluous cost incurred in the creative agency process. Find out what they are and how best to avoid them.
For 20 years I have worked as a Graphic Designer in which time I have worked in numerous advertising and design agencies in London and the South East. Throughout this time it has never failed to amaze me just how inefficient the entire working process is and the amount of superfluous cost that is involved, inevitably passed on to the client.
This article will no doubt be controversial but given the current economic climate it is essential that businesses that allocate a marketing spend are made aware of how their money is spent and what they can do to ensure that it is put to best use.
Typically middle weight or larger companies employ a marketing person or marketing department who liase with an outside design agency to provide their corporate identity, advertising, print and website design. This arrangement involves many internal layers, e.g.; your marketing department will brief the agency account handler or sales representative, who then briefs the creative director, who in turn briefs the designer who produces the design which upon approval is handed to the production/artwork department. This is as you can see a lengthy process.
In this example the brief will have been passed through 4 different departments before it is handed to the individual who must undertake the work, the designer will now be trying to satisfy 4 departments each of which usually have their own personal idea of what the job requires. If the client side marketing department has been directly briefed by a company director this adds yet another level. Even a formal written brief can become confused and diluted with individual opinions; the designer will be trying to satisfy a multitude of views that are often in many respects in direct conflict with one another.
This highlights an even bigger problem, 5 people will be employed but only 2 at most will be producing any actual work, you are indirectly paying for 3 additional salaries, company cars, office space etc...
Where does your money go
Lets take a look from the designers point of view, once they have satisfied the creative director they must accommodate the opinion of the account handler. The account handler or sales representative should serve to maintain a healthy relationship with the client and ease the burden of uncreative work, yet they often play a direct role, demanding changes to the aesthetic design, adding additional time to the job based on no creative experience, you are paying for this additional time.
Finally the work will be presented to your marketing department, here the job often takes on a new level on complexity as there seems to be some confusion in what the role of the marketing person is. So many of the younger marketeers I have worked with in the past appear to be frustrated designers, the temptation to get involved on a creative level is overwhelming and the design work is often heavily influenced by their demands, this creates numerous levels of amendments again based on little or no design experience, even if the work is to be completed to a set fee the agencies will no doubt have included a considerable amount to accommodate these anticipated changes.
Marketing employees of this type in my opinion are of little or no value, are surplus to requirement and a drain on your company resources.
A good marketing professional will analyse your target audience, understand how and where to advertise to them, with a strategic marketing plan. The fact that their personal favorite or least favorite colour may be green should not be an overriding factor!
The impact on the quality of work
Over countless projects I have observed the undeniable fact that as the number of opinions increase the eventual integrity of the work is compromised, this is often referred to as ‘design by committee’. This is particularly the case when marketing departments get closely involved with the creative process, I have witnessed design work of the highest standard destroyed by ill judgment on countless occasions almost without exception.
How to avoid the cost, time, and sacrifice in quality.
The only two vital components in the entire creative process are the company director, or legitimate marketing person and an experienced and complete designer, with these two ingredients you can achieve everything and more than the inefficient and expensive agency route.
Firstly and most obviously you need to ensure that your marketing employees are providing a service that is of genuine value to your business.
To source a good designer is not difficult, many designers who have worked in design agencies having developed the required skills and knowledge will opt to go self employed, starting a small design business or working on a freelance basis, these are the people that you need to approach. You will be directly removing all ‘middle men’ and inevitable cost from the process and working directly with exactly the same designers that would be working on your projects in the agency process.
The cost implications and work load.
The cost implication often works against the small business, without the excessive overheads quotes are likely to be considerably lower, businesses are therefore understandable suspicious, if it costs half as much how can it be as good. A good small design business should have an exceptional and unique website with a substantial portfolio to uphold their claims.
There may also be a suspicion that smaller businesses may not be able to undertake large volumes of work, but designers within the agency environment soon become accustomed to processing extremely large quantities of work, the removal of too many opinions and individuals from the chain will in effect be a reduction in work load.
You may sacrifice the casual visits and charisma of the account representatives, but you will make a considerable saving without a compromise in the standard of your marking material.
