Why we should jump off the BAU treadmill and let our imaginations run wild

Give brilliant people the space to innovate, and both client and agency will see the benefit, writes Zone account manager Sophie Bliss…

Within agencies, we often fall into the trap of delivering BAU briefs that are what our clients want, but not necessarily what they need. Challenging these briefs is in our DNA at Zone, but often shifting cultures within businesses and multiple stakeholders make this difficult. How do we help clients give us the space to be innovative and creative, while also delivering against clients’ business objectives and helping them succeed commercially?

This is a question I’ve been thinking about a lot recently and, ultimately, I think the answer is in investing time for our clients: setting aside ‘unpaid days’ in order for our teams to work on their own briefs that really push the boundaries. Not only is it inspiring for internal teams, it is also inspiring for clients — bringing them into this journey means that they can see first-hand the work that we are capable of, stretch their imaginations and hopefully challenge us with more interesting briefs.

Nothing keeps a relationship more fresh and long lasting than really showing your value, being relevant and doing something a little different. Just look at the success of the Chip Shop awards – there is a real appetite for creatives and business strategists to develop ideas with no constraints on time or imagination — they just need the opportunity to get there.

Inviting clients to be involved in the process is an effective way to build strong relationships, particularly with the normally hidden, but brilliant, people who can show off their skills and products in a safe space, unrelated to any deadlines or external briefs. This really embeds the agency and client relationship in a way that could otherwise be hard to maintain.

You may think that is great in theory, but impossible to implement. Client deadlines, resourcing issues and utilisation targets are all very real challenges. However, I’ve found that agencies CAN adopt this model without negatively impacting revenues or productivity. At an event I recently attended, one of the other agencies shared how they set every Friday aside for innovation and for staff to work on their own projects. This has improved revenues, staff retention and improved client relationships and overall trust.

At Zone we work in multi-disciplinary teams that look to transform our clients through delivering brilliant, customer-centric experiences. At the heart of this is strategic creativity and therefore it’s definitely worth us exploring how to help our clients to carve out exceptional briefs.

So although I’m not sure we’re about to adopt a four-day week quite yet, there is benefit in making teams aware of the positives of getting off the treadmill once in a while. Let’s take the time to have some fun with our clients’ brands and challenges without the pressures of briefs or billable hours. It’s certainly an agenda I’m going to push.