We're in a crazy economic situation right now and it's affecting our whole industry in good ways and bad. One thing that seems to be particularly worrisome to traditional agencies is the fact that many clients are moving to project-based relationships. This scares the crap out of the CFOs.
But it doesn't have to be a bad thing for your business. Project-based work presents some interesting opportunities -- actually, some totally awesome opportunities that you should be excited about. If you're getting more project work than AOR, you could try to turn one project into the next, building one on top of the other.
For instance, your ideas could have a part two and a part three, or sequels or added features or levels of engagement. It's pay as you (they) go.
It's a pretty natural evolution, when you're developing messages in real time, to build on project work over time until you suddenly have a large and robust campaign. It's also how most successful Internet developments occur. To me, this is a really interesting parallel that could influence our thinking.
If you look at brand marketing as a living entity that should reflect the behavior of a company and its current and future plans, then it should be a step-by-step process anyhow. No successful company on your roster developed overnight -- it was all done in increments.
This has always been true, of course, but this economic situation has made it even more so. Whereas before we could plan the whole year with the understanding that things would only need to be tweaked as circumstances warranted, these days the planning of the whole year is an increasingly dubious exercise; note how many companies have stopped forecasting revenues. The need to stay nimble has commensurately increased.
There's already an existing map for how to run your projects and company on a project-by-project basis. Software development -- particularly Web applications -- often works in an iterative way. There are several approaches, but they fall under an umbrella term: "agile development." It's more or less what it sounds like. You start with what you think is a good idea, and perform short bursts of work, planning for the most pressing needs. You check the response from the users, get their feedback, listen, evolve, change.
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