Trust issues are the main reason agencies are shying away from collaboration, Havas’ chief strategy officer Mitchell Long said on stage at MFA Ex in Sydney.
A recent survey of media, marketing and advertising professionals found that 1 in 3 struggle with teamwork because of a “fundamental lack of trust between different agency partners”.
One respondent said: “Agency collaboration is a knife fight in a telephone box”.
Another said: "Most agencies feel that introducing an agency partner will cannibalise their role with the client”.
Despite this, marketers are crying out for more collaboration between media agencies and external partners.
Long said collaboration is an important, but often challenging, part of the job.
However, teaming up with competitors can be challenging because it requires repeated deliberation to achieve the best collective outcome.
“Philip Kotler, the father of modern marketing, said ‘marketing is a game of skill, not love’ but the game has changed,” Long said.
“Increased fragmentation, technology and a rising demand for agility have caused the game to go multiplayer.
“The reality is collaboration sits at the very heart of our industry.”
Long has tips that can be used to reset dysfunctional agency relationships.
He said there are three “cheat codes”, which he explained using “game theory”, the love potion, seeing stone and truth bomb.
“The truth bomb is about using direct communication to share your agendas and get to the core what you always want to get out of that relationship,” Lyons said.
“The next cheat code is the seeing stone, which is all about laying down shared ways of working in brief terms… it's really necessary in situations where there's ambiguity or lack of clarity.
“The love potion is all about strengthening personal connection and the flow of free thinking between different disciplines.”
Long wrapped up with a game which highlighted the importance of mutual cooperation.
Attendees were faced with decisions on whether to “play” (collaborate) or “prey” (compete) with other agency partners.
“The moral of this story is that the only way to win is to consistently rig the game so everyone plays,” Lyons said.
“Choose 'play' over 'prey' every time.”
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