Archive for December, 2009

dynamIt featured in article about the changing agency model

December 6th, 2009 by Jamie Timm

dynamIt was featured in last Friday’s Columbus Business First in an article about the changing agency model.

Here’s a snippet of the article:

While some traditional agencies have cut employees or gone out of business altogether, small, local, nontraditional ad firms are growing. The key the upstarts say, is keeping rates and overhead low by offering just one service.

Check out the full article here.

There’s  a lot of conversation about agencies – Can digital agencies lead? Or will traditional firms continue to have that role? Who is best suited to handle emerging media? Where should budgets be devoted? Regardless of where it nets out, what we’ve learned over the past few years is that leading with strategy, executing for a reason and being a business partner that can wrap themselves around a client results in great work and sustained relationship.

Like the Business First article says, its about doing what you do really well and cutting the other fat – whether it be overhead, or unrelated services.

From Seth’s Blog – How to be a Great Client

December 2nd, 2009 by Nick Seguin

We work with some fantastic partners and clients. Their opportunities allow us to engage in some fascinating and meaningful work. Any time we have the opportunity to set the stage for even better results, we try to do that – whether it’s pre-project workshops, information sharing or this great blog post from Seth (a portion is below).

We like Seth’s blog, a lot. As always, everything should be taken in context. Give it a quick read!

How to be a great client

As a client, your job isn’t to be innovative. Your job is to foster innovation. Big difference.

Fostering innovation is a discipline, a profession in fact. It involves making difficult choices and causing important things to get shipped out the door. Here are a few thoughts to get you started.

  • Before engaging with the innovator, foster discipline among yourself and your team. Be honest about what success looks like and what your resources actually are.
  • If you can’t write down clear ground rules about which rules are firm and which can be broken on the path to a creative solution, how can you expect the innovator to figure it out?
  • Simplify the problem relentlessly, and be prepared to accept an elegant solution that satisfies the simplest problem you can describe.
  • After you write down the ground rules, revise them to eliminate constraints that are only on the list because they’ve always been on the list.
  • Hire the right person. Don’t ask a mason to paint your house. Part of your job is to find someone who is already in the sweet spot you’re looking for, or someone who is eager and able to get there.

…. hop over to Seth’s blog and be sure to read the rest of his post. Great stuff: Original Source: Seth’s Blog