How do you get a business suit to understand how the creative process works?

Question

I work at an ad agency as a designer. 95% of our office is non-creative sales associates who we design for. The problem is they think photoshop has tools in it that are "magic" and one click of the mouse and we can do anything. They also have a hard time understanding how long it takes to create a quality well designed ad. They want high quality and high quantity. They don't want to give us very much time but they want a really good design...How do we get them to understand how it works!!!!! We explain it to them but they still don't get it...

Answer 1

Hi,

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This portal is giving away a free business card holder for lising your business (I got mine a few days ago in the mail).  If you want to know about some other portals, just let me know.

http://www.top-e-business-seo-directory....

Best of Luck

Answer 2

This is one of the oldest problems in the agency book. At nearly every ad agency in the world, there exists a dichotomy between the suits and the creatives: Suits don't understand/appreciate the creative side and Creatives don't understand what it's like to be in the shoes of the Account guy.

Here are a few things I've implemented in some agencies that I've worked in.

1. If you have not already done so, institute the process of using a Creative Brief for all projects. (You can find samples of one online. Or e-mail me and I'll send you one.) If the Suits come to see that there is a systematic process that will lead to better work, they may come to understand why you need more time.

2. Empower the Production Manager to approve all deadlines. Don't allow Suits to tell a client when project can be completed by until the PM has given them the date. In my experience, I have found that over-eager Account people are often too quick to promise delivery when the have either no concept of the current work load, a vendor's workload, or any idea of how much time a project will take to complete. Get the owner of your Agency to sign off on this. This helps the Account Manager, too. No account manager wants to go back to the client and ask for more time or explain why a project is late. There is nothing wrong with telling a client "You know, I think that's something that we should be able to turn around for you in fairly short order, but let me confirm some production schedules with our Production Manager and I'll get right back to you with a firm delivery date."

3. Account Managers need to understand that the Agency's work is one of (if not it's most important) selling tool. A design firm or ad agency should never have to apologize for the work it is producing. If a prospective client sees something that was hurriedly put together, they're not looking at it from that standpoint. All they are seeing is something with poor production values, a poorly executed concept, or what have you. If the Agency doesn't take pride in the work they are producing - and pride needs to be shared company-wide, then they are in effect reducing themselves to the role of a vendor and simply competing with the Kinko's of the world. Clients are loyal to business partners - not to vendors. If your Agency takes that approach to working with your clients and lobby for more time on projects, that will benefit everyone involved.

4. Get the Production Manager involved. If they are not already doing so, have them produce a weekly production status report so that AEs can see the amount of work in production. Have the PM work up general "timelines" for every major type of project. For example: A brochure takes x-weeks, a flyer takes x-days, an advertising campaign takes x-weeks. Your AE's need to have a better sense of how long a typical project actually takes to produce. At my last agency, I had the PM post a three month production calendar on an Dry-Erase board. At any one time, an AE could walk into her office and see every project that was in the works and its current state of production. So when an AE would pop in and say "Can I have X done by this Friday?" she could say, "No, I'm sorry. I can't even have them start on it until next Wednesday and you're looking at at least 5 more days (or whatever) after that." A production schedule looks a lot different when it's written out on a calendar vs. a sheet of paper.

5. Make the AE choose. If an AE has a Rush project, ask them which one of their other projects they want to have put on hold. (This is really a last resort, and an AE should never be given this power - it should be the PM who decides what needs to slide.) My point is, AE's shouldn't feel as though they can everything all the time. Something has to give.

I have fought this battle you have described for nearly 20 years. It's less of an issue at some agencies than others. They key to getting AE's on board is by NOT making it an US vs THEM issue. It's by getting them to understand how properly dedicating time to projects will (1) improve the quality of work (2) produce better results for the client (3) improve the agency's creative reputation in the community (4) raise the agency's creative profile and (5) help grow the agency business. It really can be a win-win, I've seen it happen.

Good luck to you. If you want to converse more about this, drop me a line.

Answer 3

Does upper management understand the process?

If so, I'd suggest having them assign a key sales person or two to 'shadow' a designer while the designer goes through the entire process. Watching the whole process first-hand should be a lot more effective than trying to explain it to them. Use the concrete versus the abstract.