Over the past few weeks I have been thinking about ways that brands can actually act on their desire to be ‘innovative’. How many times have you been told by a client that they are committed to innovation and want you to develop an innovative marketing campaign? However, I am yet to see a dedicated budget that stays for the whole year under the ‘innovation’ line item.
There is the new buzz of 70/20/10, which is 70% the same old boring shit, 20% a little less of the boring shit, and 10% for stuff that’s supposed to be more original and inventive. I haven’t really seen this work as the budgets usually follow suit with the 70/20/10 rule, spending nothing on innovation….. Last I heard, innovation isn’t cheap, especially when tech is involved.
So I am proposing a new way of doing things and wanted to throw it out there for comments, confirmation or constructive criticisms - from both clients and ad people alike. I want to propose a new ‘One in 10 Rule’. Basically this starts at the planning phase of yearly marketing plans, brand plans, etc. If there are 10 briefs for the year, the client allows the agency to choose one of those briefs and do whatever they like with it to solve the marketing or business problem… and the only feedback the client can give is on mandatory branding and legal.
The client does not initially reveal the budget of the chosen brief but they would have set the budgets when writing the briefs and cannot change them. So if the agency happens to choose the brief with the biggest budget then the client has to go along. Likewise, if the agency chooses the brief with the smallest budget then they can’t complain like we always do about not having enough money for a campaign. What I love about this way of working is that it forces both agency and client to challenge each other and to really invest in innovation, whether it is with the biggest or smallest of budgets.
I think this would make agencies really excited as I know I have a draw full of strategies and ideas that are “not off the table” but not “on the table”, heck I don’t know if there even is a table anymore. As long as the work that the agency produces is on-brand and on-brief then we should see an increase in great work, which is what we are all striving for. And instead of the one campaign per year that goes to market this may allow clients to trust their agencies a little more after they have proven themselves through the one in 10 process.
Imagine working on some of the biggest brands in Australia, knowing that you have a chance to do the work that you have always wanted to do. But the excitement doesn’t stop with the agency, the client moves forward knowing that they are going to get something completely different to what they normally see and that they will be able to put their hand on their heart and say “I truly invested in innovation”.
I am really keen to test this new approach, and would love to see a few clients and agencies take a risk on it and hopefully share in the spoils.
Feel free to share your thoughts here.
Grant Flannery
Associate strategy director
The White Agency