Onecocktailaway.com is a site developed by my good friend Lisa. She is one of the smartest, sharpest, hardest working, incredibly nice people I know. She (like I) is trying to figure out this whole blog/web site thing (which is easier than the bigger issue…figuring out life). Her site is nice because it’s hers. Oh. It also gives me a neat place to write things from my more “sensitive” side and some random things that always seem to make more sense after a couple of cocktails (well at least they do to me). Luckily I am pretty sure I won’t lose this link on my site because I think she likes the fact I may give her some content (oh. And she is my friend and doesn’t want to hurt my feelings).

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Any life, no matter how long and complex

it may be, is made up of a single moment.

The moment in which a person finds out,

once and for all,

who he is.

 

Jorge Luis Borges

 

 

 

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Well.

I teach as many high school classes as I can because I think kids today should be as prepared for the real world as possible.

I talk with them about what it takes to be successful in a career (and life).

My favorite topic to discuss is “character.”

I describe it as a fork in the road. Okay. A shitload of forks in the road.

A moment, or moments, where you have a choice which helps define who you will be moving forward in life.

I ceratainly never mean to suggest I know “the right path” … all I mean I that we all have choices to do “the right thing” or “the wrong thing” and those types of decisions go a long way to defining “once and for all who you are.”

The other thing I happen to mention which I oddly enough learned in the advertising world … each moment matters.

If you find an excuse to not do what is best one moment … well … the next moment is even easier to not do the right thing -… and then the next thing you know you are on the slippery slope and you cannot get off.

Anyway.

This is a Life truth. And don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

There have been a lot of great covers over time. This is my list of the ones I enjoy hearing and believe are interesting versions of the original (and in some cases better than the original). I have listed the cover artist, the song and the original artist.

1. Sun Kil Moon “Kentucky Woman” (Neil Diamond)

2. The Sundays “Wild Horses” (Rolling Stones)

3. Aerosmith “Train kept a’Rollin” (Tiny Bradshaw..Cream covered it too)

4. Stevie Ray Vaughan “Superstition” (Stevie Wonder)

Note: Also check out this MTV video from 1989 with both Stevies doing Superstition together.

5. The Bangles “Hazy Shade of Winter” (Simon & Garfunkel)

6. Kristin Hersh “Trouble” (Cat Stevens)

7. Ryan Adams “Wonderwall” (Oasis)

8. Evan Dando:

• with his girlfriend Julianna Hatfield & the Blake Babies “Temptation Eyes” (The Grass Roots)
  Temptation Eyes – Blake Babies
• with the Lemonheads “Mrs. Robinson” (Simon & Garfunkel)
  Mrs. Robinson – The Lemonheads

9. Alison Krauss “Can’t Find my Way back Home” (Blind Faith)

10. 10,000 Maniacs “Peace Train” (Cat Stevens)

although their cover of “To Sir with Love” (Lulu) featuring Michael Stipe is a close second for them

11. Nonpoint “In the Air Tonight” (Phil Collins)

12. Quietdrive “Time after Time” (Cyndi Lauper)

13. Aimee Mann “Baby Blue” (Badfinger)

14. Foo Fighters “Baker Street” (Gerry Rafferty)

15. The Atari’s “Boys of Summer” (Don Henley)

16. Lenny Kravitz “American Woman” (Guess Who)

17. The Fugees “Killing me Softly” (Roberta Flack)

18. Scissor Sisters “Comfortably Numb” (Pink Floyd)

19. Disturbed “Land of Confusion” (Genesis)

5 Honorable mentions:

Robert Downey doing Joni Mitchell’s “River” on Ally McBeal

Red Hot Chili Peppers doing Ohio Players “Love Rollercoaster”

Mindy Smith singing a 1940’s British song “Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square”

Sarah McLachlan doing XTC’s “Dear God”

Alanis Morissette’s kickin’ version of Seal’s “Crazy.”

Cover I would like to hear done:

“Under the Milkyway” The Church

So.

In business there is a significant difference between having the skill to actually build something … and having the skill to fix something.

Me? I guess I have always seen myself as a fixer. Or a renovator. I have always been pretty good <at least … very comfortable> stepping in to manage a business where maybe the business has become stagnant (the organization itself, sales, ideas, whatever). Maybe stepping in when someone well thought of, who has been in a position for a long period of time has left. It is most typically a place and time where shaking the etch-a-sketch was needed (although it may not be liked/appreciated by all at the moment).

Some guy named Pareto (an Italian sociologist) suggested there are two types of people.

The Speculator and the Rentier.

The Speculator is constantly preoccupied with the possibilities of new combinations. Rentiers are more conservers of the routine … he also calls them Stockholders.

While I am not sure I agree life is as simple as he suggests, I do agree different people think different ways … and inevitably they have different skill sets <despite the fact many business people would like to think they are good at everything>.

Me? It is absolutely, clearly, in my DNA to be “constantly preoccupied with possibilities of new combinations.” Now. That can make me a pain in the ass to work with.

I vividly remember the time a mentor, and a manager I loved working for, once said to me “sometimes you are a pain in the ass, but I am glad you are my pain in the ass.”

And in liking this ‘new combinations’ concept that means the more pieces available the better I am. By pieces I mean perceptions, attitudes, strengths, weaknesses, things they may have even forgotten they were good at or had years ago and just need to be brought off the shelf and used again.

By the way … I have written something called “thoughtful reimaging” that captures what I believe about that process.

Anyway. I enjoy taking existing pieces and rearranging them. But to be a good <effective> Renovator I guess I have to be good, or at least comfortable, at making choices.

If you have a hundred pieces you cannot use them all.

New combinations means sifting through everything that is there … prioritizing and analyzing … and it will mean using some old and some new and discarding some being used in the present. Maybe what people have liked (or what has worked for me) is that I don’t like to throw everything out (mostly because I tend to believe there are people a lot smarter than me, and one or two of them had probably thought about this situation before I came along) and I don’t really like – or think about – putting my own thumbprints on something.

In the end I just like to reshape thing a little so that maybe people think it’s bigger and better <or more efficient and effective> than it really is … but implementing it is pretty easy to do because it’s just not that new.

<note: communicating this is an entirely different post … because I believe so many people want to use buzzword bullshit to imply greater/bigger/magical/NEW … that thinking simplistically & pragmatically like this gets stalled in cynicism and lack of understanding>

I had a business associate tell me once after I told him all of this that there should be no reason why I shouldn’t be good at building because the thought process underpinnings were exactly the same. I agreed theoretically … but noted this was more about mindset. I would suck as an entrepreneur. I just don’t have the head for it. And I guess I just can’t cross that mental block that would make it possible for me create something from scratch.

As I wrap this thought up I think about the ‘pain in the ass’ comment.

This isn’t like home building renovation. This is about business. So being a Renovator sometimes means having a little lack of subtlety in your approach so that people understand that the renovation has to be discernible to make a difference. Not whole scale (as noted earlier I do like to take some old and some new) but discernible in order to make a difference. One foot in the past, or present and one foot in the future. It takes a lot of pragmatism … but also a good dose of futurism <which some people call potential or hope>.

So. If you visit my LinkedIn site you will see a past client says:

“If you don’t want to be “nudged” into new ideas and creative solutions – don’t ever call Bruce McTague. If, however, you want to look at things through a different telescope and find 3-dimensional ideas you’ve never considered, call Bruce now. Not tomorrow. He’ll make you uncomfortable, but I firmly believe that if the idea doesn’t make you uneasy, it’s not a big idea. Easy to work with, but always stretching your mind, Bruce is a true business Partner. You’ll grow working with Bruce.”

I guess we renovators (if we don’t want to be order takers) have to be a little contrarian at times. And we are not “nudgers.”

And I don’t mean to be … and probably never will be.

But I do love putting new combinations of things together. I do love taking something existing and breathing new life into it. I do love taking something that maybe is standing still and getting it to run again. And maybe that is what being a renovator is all about … pushing organizations and products to get the momentum going again.

Maybe it would have been more fun to call us “etch a sketchers’ instead but I will stick with being a Renovater <and owning an etch a sketch>.

Teach a high school class.

This is something I recommend for everyone.

I try to donate a couple days of my time every year to the high school I graduated from as well as accept as many other opportunities to teach kids as I am able to fit into my schedule. Many people ask what I teach (and I will tell you below) but frankly it doesn’t really matter that much. High school teachers are typically so overworked and time challenged, if you can absorb even some of their daily commitment, you are helping. In addition, the kids love access to some non-teacher, real world access to break up their school life.

But. Specific topics I have presented and discussed in school:

• Ethics in communication
• Ethics in business.
• Entrepreneurship (or starting your own business)
• Effective presenting – presentations
• Evaluating ideas
• What history can teach us about today
• It’s ok if you don’t know what you want to be when you grow up
• Collecting moments (or learning from people and experiences)
• Listening and responding
• What it takes to succeed

But I have also helped with history, social studies, business and English (although my grammar is spotty at best).

There are two reasons I do this as often as I can (you find your own reasons). One is selfish. One is less selfish.

1. Selfishly the experience hones my presentation and listening/responding skills. High school kids have incredibly short attention spans. There is no continuity or linearness to the line of questions you receive. Questions range from incredibly insightful to seemingly pedantic (but often there is a not so obvious insightful thought buried in the question to be mined and explored). They make me better. And selfishly I use them to become better.

2. Non selfishly … well … kids don’t know what they don’t know and, fortunately, most know that. And they are sponges for information at this age. Even the most cynical in the back row has something he/she wants to know. Teachers do the best they can (and they do a great job) but even they are sponges for additional information and perspective. I love teaching (but I am fairly confident I couldn’t do what our teachers do). So. If I can be a relief pitcher for a couple of innings so the starter can keep their arm fresh then I am willing to play that role. And hopefully some kid comes out of the room that day with a slightly more hopeful look at the world around them.

Lastly.

I teach as many high school classes as I can because I think kids today should be as prepared for the real world as possible. I talk with them about what it takes to be successful in a career (and life). One thing I discuss is “character.” I describe it as a fork in the road. A moment, or moments, where you have a choice which helps define who you will be moving forward in life. I don’t mean to suggest I know “the right path” all I mean I that we all have choices to do “the right thing” or “the wrong thing” and those types of decisions go a long way to defining “once and for all who you are.” The other thing I happen to mention which I oddly enough learned in the advertising world…each moment matters. If you find an excuse to not do what is best one moment the next moment is even easier to not do the right thing – and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

Go do it.

I guarantee you will be more tired at the end of the day than you have in a very very long time. But you will also feel better than you have in a very very long time.

While I spent Interviewing 2.0 mostly ranting about the use of branding and actual interviewing, my good friend (and a guy really smart about this stuff) Scott reminded me of some things you need to do before you start interviewing.

Oh, like what? (you may ask)

Oh, well like what you are good at. (that whole competency thing)

You really need to nail this down before you even think about interviewing (and this is a tough one).

So. I am not going to get hung up on branding (that will be another post soon where I will attempt to show people how we have bastardized the use of brand from its origins to a point it is meaningless and misused) and move on to how to decide what you are good at to help out on interviewing.

It is interesting, because having played a role as business development director at several advertising agencies, I learned a lot about articulating competency. Let’s say for simplicity sake there are three tiers to defining competency

Tier 1: The most basic competency

I have the skills or past experience to even be in the game. So. This is like interviewing for an accounting job and saying you have the best accounting skills because you worked at one of the largest accounting firms in the world. Or saying at a marketing interview that you have worked at some of the largest marketing firms in the world. It gets you in the game, but its all puffery. Ultimately, if you get stuck in this tier you will lose because everyone will figure out how to make their basic skills sound like the best and it becomes white noise to someone who is interviewing dozens of people.

So check the box on tier one and get to tier 2 as quickly as possible.

Tier 2: The basic problem the competency you just outlined solves

Because of my skills I am faster. Or maybe I resolve issues faster. Or maybe you get things “unstuck” better. Or maybe you allow others around you to be more productive. It reflects an understanding of what your skill has to offer and how a future employer will benefit.

Once again checking the box on tier 2 is nice (and you can win here on rare occasion). This tier typically aligns you with whomever you are talking with. You show you understand what you need to do, understand the problem and you know how to solve that type of problem.

The problem with tier two is there are a lot of smart people out there and (as in business development) you will find that a lot of people will check this box well. Doesn’t mean you don’t need to check it. Just that when you figure out that this is what you are good at providing benefit-wise, you need to understand that it may simply be a parity place (which isn’t necessarily bad if during face-to-face the chemistry is great).

Tier 3: Ah. Then there is tier three. This is where you figure out why you are good at what you do and explain an unexpectedly relevant benefit.

It reflects a higher understanding of what it is you have to offer. (And at the end I will spend a minute explaining how to make who you may end up talking to care about it).

This level of relevance is not just talking about results. This is more about what kind of results specifically you are good at. For example, in my world, in retail not talking about sales but saying “the programs I develop are really good at generating foot traffic”.

Or. My skills are really effective in fragmented or multiple constituent organizations.

Here’s the deal with the Tier 3. It’s yours. It’s you. It’s kind of “your thing” that you are good at. It can’t be vanilla (good with people, good team leader, good at tough decisions, etc.) it has to be an insightful attachment to your competency.

How do you keep your competency Tier 3 unchangeable but relevant?

So. This is really important.

A lot of people talk about customizing for interviews. New business taught me a huge lesson on this.

Never change who you are and what you are good at. Tier 1, Tier 2 and, absolutely, Tier 3.

Never. (There is a litany of reasons for this I won’t waste the space on. But suffice it to say in the ad agency new business world, inconsistency is an unforgiving trait where people can compare notes. And you should treat interviewing the same).

In fact your tier three opening line/paragraph/whatever should always remain the same. At my agencies the “what we are really good at” never changed. The only thing that changed was the following “and here is why it should matter to you” paragraph. That is the relevance part. That is what changes for the interview (and, oh by the way, it kinda shows you have done some homework).

Some risk? Absolutely. Sometimes you will hear (rarely if you get the “here’s why” right) “well. I don’t get why it matters” in an interview…and that is ok. Sometimes you are not a good fit. Or maybe tier three is not in their “interest zone”. It happens.

But figure Tier 3 out. More often than not this is the level that makes who you are talking with cock their head and make them think really hard about you (and that is a good thing in an interview).

So. Dropping 46bliss from my one hit wonder list compelled me to replace them with one of the songs I contemplated for the original list but, probably because I was tired of typing, left them off. But I am fresh now so I am adding three to replace 46bliss:

Joseph Arthur “Honey and the Moon”- A beautiful song. “I wish I could follow you to the shores of freedom but no one hears. ” The only song he did worth a shit and it is a good one. For those who pay attention to this kind of stuff, this song was kind of Ryan and Marissa’s song on the TV show the OC. The show producer admitted he loved the song and built some key scenes around it.

Alexi Murdoch “Orange Sky” – It got used in a Nissan Pathfinder commercial I think. It is a 7 minute song so it’s not radio friendly. But it sure is nice. Most of the rest of his stuff to date is unmemorable but this one is one you put on a mix tape for a friend.

Blur “There’s no Other Way” – Blur fans are gonna hate me. I really really wanted to like Blur’s music but I could never get the hang of it. Oh. Except There’s no Other Way. It’s like they stumbled around getting close with some nice hooks and melodies on other songs until this one came along. And then they got their shit together for one huge hook driven beast of a pop song.

Ok. This is a multi-part rant on how money is being spent. Hence the reason I call it “monopoly money.” People banter about numbers that seem unreal <at least to me>. In addition … politicians throw numbers around in ways that is at it’s worst … simply lies … and at it’s best … partial truths. I do not like it. At all. But here you go …

Monopoly Money: International Version

So. On April 25^th 2009 the IMF resources were increased from $250 billion to $750 billion. This new fund is called IMF 2.0 (as coined by Time magazine). I guess I should have been impressed with a $500 billion increase in one day.

But maybe I am just numbed by the numbers.

These numbers (billions of dollars) get bantered about like pennies in that jar you have on top of the refrigerator. Or maybe even better. Like monopoly money.

Maybe it is just me. But I think I have a good education (although I would imagine I am still not the sharpest knife in the drawer). And I have earned a higher than average salary in my lifetime. But I admit. I don’t get it. The numbers are so huge they just don’t seem real to me. I am the guy who still blinks twice when the heating bill hits $200 in the winter. Swallows painfully when I have to write the $300 car payment every month. Even that 55 dollar a month getting pulled out of my paycheck for health insurance is kind of painful (in a bamboo shoot under the fingernail sort of way). I see $750 billion and I wonder how the farmer in Congo or Zimbabwe (the 2 poorest countries in the world) feels about the trillion or so his country is gonna get. (I have to envision it takes up more than a suitcase of money you see in the movies…maybe 4 suitcases?).

I also find it is interesting to me that Ukraine is one of the largest beneficiaries of the IMF. It surprises me because I guess I just don’t think of a European country as needing money as much as, say, a third world country (I admit that is a naïve point of view). But I have to tell you when I read something like that it reeks of supporting democratic governments versus those who need it most. Oops. That’s rambling and off point.

This is about 750 billion dollars. I understand how the money is supposed to be used and how it is supposed to benefit “the people” and “the economy.” But the numbers are so big they are meaningless to me. (and I am a member of the 7^th richest country club in the world). And that is a shame. Because I am willing to bet the IMF is doing a great job (although the trillions of dollars make me feel like they should be doing a triply great job). I just cannot wrap my arms around it.

It would probably benefit the IMF at some point to dumb it down a little for me and quit talking about 750 billion dollars.

Monopoly Money: Government version.

On August 25^th 2009 the US released updated budget figures. As stated in the press…“America’s budget is on a dangerously unsustainable course.”

Okay. What facilitated that comment was the fact they estimate America’s cumulative ten year deficit will INCREASE BY ALMOST A TRILLION DOLLARS to a new total of $9.05 TRILLION DOLLARS (I bolded those numbers to emphasize them).

Okay again. You have to be shitting me. So a deficit of $7 trillion dollars (I am rounding here) was sustainable? Someone smarter than me needs to tell me how that works. I earn pretty good money. I have friends who don’t earn as much as I do (and somehow live within budget and quite comfortably) and I have friends who earn a lot more (and have a budgeted lifestyle). None of us earn a TRILLION dollars. All of us worry about money. No matter how much money you have you worry (trust me) about bills and the future and..well…you get it.

So how am I not supposed to worry when our country is 9.05 trillion dollars in debt?

Once again. Monopoly money. The numbers are numbing. And once again I admit, they become meaningless to me. Maybe because it is unbelievable to me. And that ain’t right. I need to care. And I need to know that the people managing this nifty little number care. And it would REALLY help me out if they stopped bludgeoning me with trillions of dollars and started telling me about making the right side of the balance sheet equal the left side of the balance sheet (see. I took accounting once). And I don’t want any “voodoo accounting” (that is what came after basic accounting in college).

Listen. When someone tells me we have a trillion dollar deficit, oops, I meant a 9 trillion dollar deficit, I know something is wrong. But the numbers are so overwhelming it is difficult to see a solution…beyond selling Park Place and getting some more money.

It would probably benefit the government if they would dumb it down for me and tell me how they are gonna balance a budget. (and don’t tell me a budget cannot be balanced cause you expect me to).

12/25/09 update:

On Christmas Eve the Senate voted to raise the ceiling on the government debt to $12.4 trillion, a massive increase of $290 BILLION over the current limit. If this isn’t proof that our government is simply playing Monopoly behind all those closed door meetings (and we thought with all those smart people they were playing Chess). The senate has Park Place, the House has Boardwalk and it seems every time you pass Go they are paying out money they don’t have. Maybe I am the only one…but this is crazy.

Monopoly Money: Stimulus version.

Ok. If this is monopoly money then let me use it for a moment and talk about “stimulus packages.”

The government keeps talking about giving money to the people to rejuvenate the economy. What they really want is to give people money so they can turn around and spend it.

Sneaky bastards.

And while I am sure people appreciate receiving a $750 check (or whatever it is) it just doesn’t seem like it makes a difference. Why don’t we do something that not only helps economy but also does something positive for the everyday people?

Here is the idea. Why doesn’t the government pay one month of everyone’s, except those in the highest tax bracket, living expenses? Mortgages, rents, gas, electricity, heck, how about including cable/internet if it only adds another billion to the price tag?

Why exclude the top tax bracket? Shit. If these people can’t manage their budget they don’t deserve getting more money.

Will there be people who abuse the program? Yes. Get over it. It will be a small percentage and we have to accept there will always be assholes out to “beat the man.”

We seem to be on a music roll on the site lately(although we’re getting back to some business stuff and rants too) so I thought I would share a couple of really cool winter songs I bet a lot of people have never heard:

Fountains of Wayne “Valley Winter Song”.

If you live in New England this should be oozing out of the living room speakers on a wintry afternoon as you sit there with some coffee laced with a massive dose of Kailua and a dash of amaretto. First of all. I believe the radio has screwed Fountains of Wayne. They have consistently chosen songs for airplay that miss out on some fairly brilliant song writing in that these guys (lead singer certainly has a distinct voice) can craft some of the simplest nicest sounding hooks you have ever heard. The songs are rarely complicated but that is what makes them so consistently good. Valley Winter Song is about as simple a song as you can hear. It tells a story lyrically and musically loops again and again on a beautifully crafted simple sound. Co-founder Adam Schlesinger, who I recently discovered was part of the band Ivy, is really talented.

Paper Route “City Trucks”.

Some of their stuff is a little difficult to listen to but they are young and working their way through getting a consistent sound. They admit it (their words) “We trust that despite the imperfections, and maybe because of the imperfections and flaws, you hear the four of us trying to best capture something internal and convert it to something external.” But. Their good is really good. This winter song is about trucks and snow and…well…probably has a deeper meaning but that is all I took away from it. Regardless. You won’t care. It is a nicely written song and easy to listen to. Another good song when you are trapped in a cozy house in a blizzard. Playing a good game of Risk ain’t bad either but good music helps. Oh. And don’t forget the cocktail.

Once a deal has been struck (see Client Agency Relationships: the Art of the Deal) a client and an agency enter a relationship. This relationship can be as partners or a vendor relationship or even consultant relationship. Regardless of what that relationship ends up being there are several things that need to take place for it to be healthy.

First and foremost, the baseline or cost of entry in a relationship: an agency needs to deliver work on time, on target, and on budget, with zero tolerance for errors.

This is a fundamental truth. I attended a presentation in the 90’s given by the JWT worldwide Creative Director who said it best, “I have seen most client agency relationships fall apart because of day to day agency mistakes, not failure on the big thinking. The client starts thinking if the agency cannot manage the details how I can trust them to manage the big stuff. And it all starts falling apart.”

Secondly, an agency should be passionately committed to immerse themselves in the clients’ businesses—to come to the table each day as a fully engaged business partner, rather than as a vendor. It shows a commitment to true business results.

Beyond those two basic, but important thoughts, let’s say the following outlines some of the basics a client should expect from an agency. The agency should:

• Be a proactive business partner, operating as an extension of the clients’ marketing department and functioning as a part of the overall business team.
• Maintain an account management team to service the needs, the thinking and tactical needs, of the clients business.
• Provide ongoing strategic thinking, to better understand, communicate with, and motivate the clients’ target audience to take action (drive results).
• Leverage the budget through innovative planning, efficient buying, merchandising, added value, event marketing and sponsorships.
• Create and produce highly effective, traffic building, multi-level campaigns that will successfully enhance and unify the client’s brand image.

On the other side of the relationship, there are certain things an agency would like from the client. The following outlines 6 (which may not be all-inclusive but probably hit the key things):

1. Communicate.

An agency is only as good as the information it gets. Tell us the good, the bad and the truth. No matter how much experience we have, guessing is guessing, and we will not always be correct when we guess.

1. Be a partner.

You are the Client. And ultimately your word is the final word (because it is your money). But agencies do impossible things for Clients who treat them like true partners. We’ll debate, we’ll argue, we’ll be grumpy with each other every once in awhile, but we all have the same goal in mind – business success. And you hired us to do something you didn’t believe you could do. So treat us like a partner.

1. Be fair.

Maybe this should have been “be open minded” but suffice it to say we are not evil and we don’t purposely have bad intentions. When we do something we usually have a good reason on why we did it (and it would be nice for you to stop and listen to it). And we make mistakes on occasion. Not on purpose but because they sometimes happen. Just be fair.

1. Be tough.

If it is not right in your eyes, then it is not right until we have convinced you it is (or you have convinced us otherwise). Sure. You hired us to be the experts in what we do, but you are an expert in what you do. Don’t compromise. Don’t settle for “good” because good is the largest enemy of “great.” Be a tough grader. This is business. And we are all about doing whatever is best to drive the best results.

1. Have fun.

Laugh a little. Okay. Laugh a lot. It is marketing for Pete’s sake.

Conclusion: Some Semblance of Partnership.

While insuring expectations are communicated and aligned and delivering upon the details are critical, ultimately the most successful relationships have some semblance of a partnership. And partnership is truly a multi-faceted concept. Some collaboration helps (but agencies always need to remember they get hired because the client cannot do something themselves). A goal should be to attain a seamless extension of the marketing department at minimum, the client company at its best – joined by common business objectives and fueled by shared values.

It is quite possible this quote from Booker Washington summarizes a healthy client agency relationship the best:

“… be as separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress.”

Note: To download a PDF of parts one and two of Client Agency Relationships, visit my Thoughts On Business page or click here.