Agency Execs Turned CMOs Share Tips for a Strong Brand-Agency Bond

When it comes to ideating and producing memorable creative today, there’s more than one way to skin a cat. Many companies are building in-house creative departments in order to save on cost, move faster, ensure brand consistency across the entire customer journey, and encourage ideas from within. That said, it’s hard to argue that the majority of the best and boldest ideas still come from agencies. This has created a conundrum of sorts for CMOs and agency leaders, leading to heightened conflict as the industry and models evolve. Look no further than the recent calling out of Coinbase’s Super Bowl QR code idea by The Martin Agency’s CEO, Kristin Cavallo. This begs the question: How can modern marketers work best with their agency partners to ensure a win-win output? And what do CMOs actually want from their agency partners? We rounded up tips heard on the CMO Moves podcast and beyond on how to strike that harmonious brand-agency repertoire from four agency-turned brand execs. Be crystal clear on what success looks like “Really explain what you’re solving for and be very deliberate about how you’re measuring success. For example, many marketers look to TV to increase sales; I would argue no. The reason we run TV is to generate awareness for the brand or an offer. Full stop. Stop the measurement right there. It’s the role of your e-commerce property or your direct-to-consumer engine to take that traffic and convert it. Understand what the right metric of success is and then judge the agency on that.”–Aron North, cmo, Mint Mobile Have a tight brief that doesn’t constrain creativity “You have to enable creativity and there is nothing better than an excellent creative brief. Spend the time writing an excellent brief grounded in a true insight, not an observation. An observation is not an insight; an insight is a human truth … We call it an integrated communications brief, and there’s less than 60 words … What I like to do is define the box incredibly well, then let the creative teams play within it anywhere they want.”–Aron North, cmo, Mint Mobile “As a former Agency Planner/Strategist, I am very particular about briefs that we give our agencies … The best creatives I worked with on the agency side always valued the strategic process and a great human insight. The intersection between human truth and brand truth is where the creative magic happens. I am constantly pushing my team to uncover and articulate both the human and the brand truth so that our agencies have a chance to deliver that creative breakthrough … Creativity is often a messy process and rarely a linear one - creative breakthroughs can happen at many different parts of the creative process and as clients we have to allow some breathing room for that serendipity to happen.”–Karuna Rawal, cmo, Nature’s Fynd Offer Direct Feedback “Have very, very clear and crisp conversations around the brief and give clear feedback because, as an agency person, sometimes you have five people talk from the client-side and it’s five different points of view … Give clear direction and be very direct–here’s what I like, here’s what I don’t like. I think agency people would rather hear that than the client just being nice (all the time).”–Craig Rowley, cmo, Shutterfly “Communicate clearly, openly and frequently with agency partners to set them up for success. Building true partnership is the best way to achieve collective success … Don’t shy away from tough conversations. Strong, productive relationships grow when partners share context, seek to understand and have a safe space to have honest discussions.”–Tesa Aragones, former cmo, Discord Challenge them to think beyond the ad “The main, most important thing for CMOs to be thinking about is–this is cliche and overused–the end-to-end experience. You’re not just looking at the campaign, and a good agency will help you on all of that. An agency might say, ‘Here’s the brand idea and here’s how the website might change to express that brand differently. Or here are ideas that you can bring to your HR team to onboard and do employee marketing differently. Or here’s how the brand expression affects what your customer service rep says on the phone.’ … To be a true CMO, you have to advocate for the whole experience because your brand is built through many, many touchpoints; not just a commercial on TV.”–Craig Rowley, cmo, Shutterfly Ensure mutual respect from the start “There is an art and science to this, so you really have to be strategic and disciplined enough to say, ‘What is the right approach?’ I think having been on the agency side for so long, you’re more intuitive about how you go through the process … When I was at agencies for many years, I always looked at my clients and said their job was way easier than mine. And, you know, you get to the client side and the pressures are different, way different stakeholders. My advice is that, on both sides, there is a lot to learn … The brand-agency relationship is always one that will forever be top-of-mind because you can’t have one without the other. There’s a lot of empathy needed on both ends.”–Craig Rowley, cmo, Shutterfly “Strong relationships of any kind are based on mutual respect and trust. I experienced this early in my agency career. So, I don’t subscribe to the finger-pointing culture between agencies and clients. Work as one team with a shared mission. Agencies want to help solve client challenges. Clients want agencies to be able to do their best work. Once you approach your partnership through this lens - you unlock the kind of collaboration for next-level work and results.”–Tesa Aragones, former cmo, Discord Let them in as true partners “Bring the agency partner upstream and share with them: ‘Here’s our 30, 60, 90, 120-day plan. And here’s why. And then here’s our annual plan. And here’s why.’ … The things that have served us well take time. So really invest in the relationship with your agency.”–Aron North, cmo, Mint Mobile Reward creative bravery “Respect your agency for the fresh, external, culturally connected perspective they bring - remember that's why you hired them … Find ways to reward and recognize the courage and creativity it took to bring them to you even when an idea isn't just right … Don't dismiss creative ideas that are uncomfortable too quickly. Live with them for a bit and then try to articulate what's not working and why. Sometimes the agency can use that to refine the idea and get it closer to what’s on brand. And if it's an idea that the agency feels really strongly about, do spend the time to understand why. There may be something in there that you may have missed.”–Karuna Rawal, cmo, Nature’s Fynd

CMO Moves

Agency Execs Turned CMOs Share Tips for a Strong Brand-Agency Bond

CMOs from Shutterfly, Mint Mobile, Nature’s Fynd and Discord Share Their Best Advice

Matt Kerbel

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Matt Kerbel