Relationships with agencies can last for weeks, months or even years – and keeping the momentum going is key. But brands that build successful long-term partnerships can expect faster feedback, better outcomes and maybe even more boundary-pushing creative work.
“How long will it take?”
It’s a question we ask about almost everything in our lives - journeys, renovations, major life changes… And it’s no different for brands embarking on new projects, wondering how much time it’ll take an agency to create a campaign, rebrand their business, develop a tone of voice doc, or whatever the big challenge is.
Some projects unfold over a number of weeks, some a matter of months, and in some cases, brands are working on major ongoing partnerships that last for years.
So how do you keep things on track? How do you avoid all the usual human emotions like impatience, irritation and boredom? We asked creative agency and serial long-termers MANUAL – whose client relationships span anything from several years to a decade – about the beauty and potential of forging creative partnerships.
1.
less time doesn't always mean a better result
“There’s often a misconception about how long brand work takes, especially among technology startups, who believe it can be done in weeks. This reflects a software engineering mentality of quickly shipping and making changes later. While we can work fast and launch a brand quickly, such projects can become very transactional and lack depth. We understand the need for speed, but great work often requires more time. We seek out long-term relationships because we believe our best work comes from collaborating with a client over an extended period.” – Tom Crabtree, co-founder
2.
IF IT TAKES LONGER, THERE'S OFTEN A GOOD REASON
“If a client has an internal design team, it might not yield a long-term relationship because they have resources – you deliver the guideline and the vision for the brand, and their internal team takes over. But for projects where clients don’t have a robust internal design team, or a brand that has a series of SKUs – these need to be maintained, and packaging is something you have to look at every few years. Those are the types of projects where a long-term relationship unfolds, due to the nature of the business.” – Tom Crabtree, co-founder
“We understand the need for speed, but great work often requires more time.”
3.
FORGING A FRIENDSHIP HELPS
“To keep a relationship strong over the years, it's about forming a good rapport with partners and clients. At some point, it’s good to move past the business talk and formality. For instance, with one of our long-term clients, we go out for dinner and drinks with the founders. Breaking down those barriers builds trust and allows you to push each other in your work and be honest about what works and what doesn’t.” – Patricia Callaway, co-founder
4.
SMALL MOMENTS OF JOY KEEPS THINGS MOVING
“My advice to a client to maintain a healthy, long-term relationship is to realise that, as designers, we really, really care. It’s hard for creative teams to dig deep, and it’s easy to forget that these folks working on your brand have your best interests at heart, and are really doing it for the benefit of the project. So it’s nice to continue to appreciate the agency – we all need a bit of validation, and if you don’t have that for a long time it can feel like a trudge. The agency needs that boost and a pat on the back to keep them going, so it can still seem surprising and lovely and exciting. You’ve got to find those little moments of joy to keep us all going.” – Tom Crabtree, co-founder
5.
WITH TIME COMES TRUST
"Building trust takes time and is earned. Sure, a new client has a certain base level of trust in us from the outset, which is largely based on past clients and projects (and occasional words of recommendation) but real trust happens when a client starts to see results from the work we do for them. When a client can see that you care more about their business success than the case study, you’re off to a strong start.” – Joe Burrin, Creative Director
6.
TRUST LEADS TO BRAVER WORK
“With long-term relationships, you don’t have to explore every option under the sun; you can become more efficient in your work. After a while, you don’t need the pomp and presentation – you can just cut straight to it because you know what is going to work. This familiarity also allows you to take bigger risks. Not only can you get to a solution quicker, but you can also push each other further. You can go a little edgier and weirder and take bigger risks because you’ve got that history.” – Joe Burrin, Creative Director
“My advice to a client to maintain a healthy, long-term relationship is to realise that, as designers, we really, really care.”
7.
AND CLIENTS BECOME MORE THAN A PORTFOLIO PIECE
“When you work with a single agency over a period of years, they’re going to be less concerned about building a portfolio piece. They care about building a long-term relationship and making great work, so they’re naturally going to have more interest in the business. Whereas if you’re always switching agencies, they’re going to want to put their own stamp on something – which can be refreshing from a marketing perspective, but if you’re continually changing the expression of your brand it gets fragmented and customers get confused.” – Tom Crabtree, co-founder
AUFI has helped a huge range of brands find their perfect agency - many of which grew into long-term partnerships. If you’re looking for an agency, get in touch.
Images shown: Fort Point Beer Co branding; Eames Institute identity; Recchiuti identity
