Building 'Just Do It'
Our last post reminded me of a great quote from Michael Beckerman: he commented on an article that appeared in Advertising Age that listed 10 forward-thinking marketing executives, including his former, uber-successful NIKE colleague, Scott Bedbury, then global director of advertising at NIKE.
“To this day when I see the slogan ‘Just Do It,’ I think of Scott, his inspiring leadership and the effort he put into building the trust needed in client-agency relationships to produce world-class work. I was a client for over 20 years and tried to encourage my team to be a great client. Now on the agency side, I know [my team] thinks every day about how to be a great agency partner. If you are either a client or an agency person who hasn’t thought about how to improve that relationship, I would encourage you to ‘Just Do It.’”
What an inspiring idea! Instead of managing relationship issues negatively, Mr. Beckerman challenges his team to take a positive approach and do something about it. (And doing it right – Mr. Beckerman’s company was listed in the ‘2012 top 10 places to work in Canada’.)
We couldn’t agree more with this approach. Our experience shows that the best client-agency relationships always stem from a trusting marketing partnership. The best clients get the best work from their agency partners.
Which is why, at Reynolds and Fyshe we use Effective Working Partnerships (EWP), a key measurement tool in a neutral, two-way, third party Relationship Management & Performance Evaluation service. The data and insights developed through EWP provide critical insights that help strengthen Client-Supplier working relationships (and work to build an effective, responsive culture built on trust).
Want better results from your marketing investment? ‘Just Do It‘. Contact us to see how we can help you improve your Client-Agency working relationship.
Mike Fyshe is a partner with Reynolds & Fyshe, the leading, independent marketing consultant in Canada, specialized in increasing the value delivery of marketing communications through related services like MarCom services evaluation, agency compensation negotiation, relationship management & performance evaluation, and ad agency search & selection. Reynolds & Fyshe adheres to best practices published by the Institute of Communication Agencies (ICA). See more at: www.reynoldsandfyshe.com.