It’s been over two years since Modern Recipe changed the face of Sodexo’s corporate canteens and won the DBA Design Effectiveness Grand Prix Award. Briefly remind us about the original objectives and impact of the project.

Philip Koh: Sodexo provide corporate services to some of the world’s leading businesses. Their B2B approach however, focused on the corporate client, was struggling to connect with staff increasingly distracted by the high-street. As success began with happy customers using the space, we started with the end user: creating a modern, flexible, all-day brand that would connect with today’s professionals. This, in turn, became inherently appealing to forward-thinking facilities managers.

The impact of the new brand was clear. Immediately after launch, we saw a sustained 45% increase in utilisation, 13% increase in average transaction value, and within 6 months, the brand was winning a host of new multi-year, multi-million pound contracts with blue chip corporate clients.

What did the win mean to Without and how has it impacted on your business since?

PK: Without has always been an agency that delivers design not just for style, but for impact. The work we do works – whether for challengers looking to break into new markets, or global brands looking to confound expectations, our thinking solves problems effectively. So the Design Effectiveness Awards, with its panel of business experts, has always been one of the most important for us. And to win the Grand Prix – it’s something we’re very proud of. 

After the award win, it is clear that we’re having much deeper, strategic conversations with potential clients – the credibility that the award bestows has been really helpful in this regard.

Anecdotally, we know that clients do look at award lists for reassurance, and for us, this award is one of the best at establishing the value of our work.  

And because this is an award for the client as much as it is for the agency, we’ve seen a positive impact within the client organisation itself. A pride and confidence in the new brand, greater commitment to its growth, and much deserved recognition for the forward-looking individuals who took the bold decisions.    

Modern Recipe has gone from strength-to-strength. Bring us up to speed on recent developments? 

PK: Our original brief was to reimagine corporate catering and re-establish canteens as vibrant, valuable assets for Sodexo’s UK market. But the result, Modern Recipe, has been so successful in the UK that it’s been quickly adapted for the US market. With Sodexo’s North American team, we’re developing and evolving the brand to address not just the cultural nuances of the American audience, but to retool the brand kit to address wider markets – from corporate, to university and healthcare sectors. It’s now being rolled out across 300 client sites in the US – at a pace we could barely have imagined when we started the project.

In your view, how has entering and winning in the Design Effectiveness Awards influenced this success and your relationship with Sodexo? 

PK: It’s worth re-emphasising that the DBA Design Effectiveness Award is a joint award, for both client and agency. Entry into the award is itself a joint effort, and a successful entry requires collaboration. Simply making an entry together is a commitment to a deeper relationship, trust, and alignment with the client’s ambitions and goals. 

We’ve found that in entering and winning the award, we’ve demonstrated our focus on our client’s success, and this has helped build trust and credibility across their organisation. It’s opened doors to new conversations and new projects, one of which, a new product tackling the challenge of nutrition in schools, we hope will be a DBA Design Effectiveness Award winner of the future!   

Has it impacted the way you work with other clients too? 

PK: We’ve always approached projects with our clients’ goals front and centre, and our strategic and design processes have been honed over the years to focus on effectively harnessing creativity to deliver commercial outcomes. What the DBA award has taught us, is how to better track, measure and account for that success. It’s a long-term way of thinking with which we approach every client project. 

Also, the rigour with which the tracking, measuring and accounting is done is critical in demonstrating the value that design brings, and that can only be a good thing for our industry. Design is often undervalued – creativity isn’t easily accounted for in a budget line – so the DBA Design Effectiveness Awards plays a really important role.       

Modern Recipe | Sodexo and Without | 2021 Grand Prix and Gold winner

Entering the 2024 DBA Design Effectiveness Awards

About Without

Without is a brand design studio helping pioneers define their difference. Founded by a historian and an engineer, Without understands the power of difference to defy, define and create categories. Since 2005 Without have helped beloved brands like Third Space, Savoir and Caravan to grow, build community and make life better, and in 2021 won the highest recognition of design effectiveness – the DBA Effectiveness Grand Prix. 

• An individual’s impact on cutting carbon emissions is tiny, but designers can have the most impact in cutting down on the impact of work they create.
• Controversially, it was suggested that working with the a ‘big bad polluter’ where a 10% improvement could have a significant impact overall, might be worth considering. Supplier screening and boundaries were suggested.
• The B-Corp Impact Assessment is a good place to start to help measure, manage, and improve positive impact performance for environment, communities, customers, suppliers, employees, and shareholders, and the B-Corp movement is appropriate for large and small businesses alike, but requires a resource commitment.
• With great power comes great responsibility and the responsibility for sustainability needs to come from clients and agencies working together for the benefit of everyone they design for. An interesting report was mentioned here from Accenture on making sustainability more human. 
• Designers have the capacity to imagine the future. Changes in corporate behaviour/output can have a big impact, so as a designer guiding corporations to the most sustainable solution is key. 
• Get educated – if we’re privileged enough not to be at the sharp end of the effects of climate change (and most in the West are – so far) then we need to take responsibility and build ESG positively into all our work as designers – clients need designers to answer the brief sustainably whether it’s asked for or not.
• Short-form courses were suggested. Bringing expert consultants in was another suggestion. Hiring in the expertise as part of your team was spoken of as being very successful for one member.
• Change attitudes – essential but a challenge, especially in large corporations where cost-based decisions drive agendas. It was agreed “make sustainability an everyday discussion” – critical to moving the dial. 
• One member shared how their team is driving this agenda within their business, creating a better place to work for everyone.
• One member spoke about a salary sacrifice scheme for employees on electric vehicles, and another has previously mentioned to me an additional day’s holiday added to either end of summer holidays for staff who chose “slow travel” (less polluting) travel options.
• Tough legislation is coming – don’t wait for that to hit – let’s get to the point where design is also sustainable – don’t just do things better, do better things (from another inspiring member).

There was much more covered in the hour – these are just a few notes to provide a flavour of the conversation. Do make sure you join us in our next DBA Members’ Forum when we’re going to be talking about AI in design.

It will be taking place online on Tuesday 8 August at 4pm BST as the Monday is a Bank Holiday in Scotland. If you would like to attend, get in touch here. 

The DBA Design Effectiveness Awards winners’ announcement was held live online on Thursday 29 June and celebrated the wide-ranging impact of design on businesses and people’s lives across the world.

Spanning work for global companies and major retailers, to start-up challenger brands and charities, 23 shortlisted projects were awarded Bronze, Silver and Gold awards.

Congratulations to all of the winners.

Established in 1989, the DBA Design Effectiveness Awards recognise and celebrate the compelling influence of design on the success of a project or business.

The Awards are entered jointly by client and designer and winning projects have been rigorously judged by business leaders from organisations such as Airbus, Carlsberg, Ericsson, Google, PWC, Virgin Atlantic Airways and Volvo Group in three rounds of judging. Crucially, the awards are evidence-based, the impact of design measured and verified.

All of the winning projects demonstrate the significant impact design makes across a broad section of industry. The judges found five particularly outstanding, awarding them Gold awards. The Gold winners are:

The High-Risk Pregnancy Referral Tool

Philips Foundation and Philips Experience Design (Grand Prix & Gold): The High-Risk Pregnancy Referral Tool is improving maternity care in low-resource settings in Africa by communicating technical medical knowledge as easy to digest information. The tool has touched the lives of over 280,000 women and their families and helped train more than 700 healthcare workers. As a result of its impact in Sub-Saharan Africa, there are now plans to adapt and scale the tool to reach remote, rural communities in China. 

Says DBA CEO, Deborah Dawton: “In using design to respond to a key priority within the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, the DBA Design Effectiveness Grand Prix Award winning, High-Risk Pregnancy Referral Tool is having a profound impact on the lives of women and their families. As the world increases its reliance on technology, there are many communities around the world which those advancements cannot reach. The design of the HRP tool is a fantastic example of how design can deliver powerful, appropriate solutions to reach communities across varying socio-demographics to create positive change for people and the planet.”

Find out more about the Grand Prix Award winning High-Risk Pregnancy Referral Tool >

Black Dog Scotch Whisky redesign

Diageo with Butterfly Cannon: Top of mind awareness reached an all-time high following Black Dog’s brand and packaging transformation. The redesign has made the Scotch Whisky more culturally relevant, more authentically Scotch and more recognisable on shelf; it’s attracting younger, affluent Indian consumers and having placed third previously, it now tops the category for brand equity. Read more >

Eichhof Beer redesign

Eichhof with Pearlfisher: Making a stunning come-back, Eichhof’s volume increased +4.7% within six months following a complete redesign. In a highly competitive category, and following seven years of continuous market share loss, Eichhof grew market share an impressive 1.2% in the year following the redesign. Read more >

Gordon & MacPhail redesign

Gordon & MacPhail with Contagious: Addressing the complexity of its product portfolio, Gordon & MacPhail’s redesign has enabled the business to maximise opportunities in a buoyant sector. A clear consumer pathway was created, and revenue has leapt 71% from selling 18% less whisky. Value sales of Gordon & MacPhail’s luxury products increased 61% within a year, while the global luxury whisky market grew only 4% in that time. Read more >

Guinness NitroSurge

Diageo with Dolmen Design & Innovation: The ground-breaking Guinness NitroSurge dispense system enables consumers to achieve beautiful Guinness pints at home and the innovation has changed consumer perceptions around the at-home experience. In just nine months, Net sales exceeded the Year-Five global target, and with a higher price point and lower production cost than the existing canned offering, Guinness NitroSurge has achieved an 8.5% uplift in beer sale profitability. Read more >

Congratulations to all the Gold, Silver and Bronze Winners

The variety and breadth of work the judges saw amongst the Gold award winners also played out across the Silver and Bronze winners too, with work spanning retail, not for profit, FMCG and charity sectors, amongst others. 

Among them were Sigtún Thróunarfélag and M Worldwide’s placemaking design strategy for Icelandic town Selfoss, the most sustainable branch fit-out in Lloyds Banking Group’s history by SpaceInvader, Else’s elevation of key pages of Avast’s website, and the immersive design and visitor experience of the Hockney’s Eye exhibition for Fitzwilliam Museum by Holmes Studio, which increased donations from the public 373%.

“It’s been a huge pleasure to chair the discussions with experts across design and business to identify and celebrate such inspiring examples of the power of design,” says Chairman of the Judges, Clive Grinyer, “my congratulations to all the DBA Design Effectiveness Award winners.”

Browse all the Gold, Silver and Bronze Award winners and take a look at their case studies >

2023 DBA Design Effectiveness Award Winners

More information on the DBA Design Effectiveness Awards and how to enter can be found here.

Jointly created by the Philips Foundation and Philips Experience Design with the International Committee of the Red Cross, Grand Prix and Gold award winner, The High-Risk Pregnancy (HRP) Referral Tool is fundamentally improving maternity care in low-resource settings in Africa by communicating technical medical knowledge as easy to digest information.

The clarity of its design has seen the HRP Referral Tool touch the lives of over 280,000 women and their families, and train more than 700 healthcare workers.

The UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals are an urgent, global call for action to promote prosperity, while protecting the planet. They recognise that ending poverty must go hand-in-hand with strategies that build economic growth and address a range of social needs, while tackling climate change and environmental protection.

Goal Three is focused on good health and well-being for all, of which maternity care is key, especially amongst socio-economically disadvantaged communities. In 2017, Sub-Saharan Africa alone accounted for roughly two-thirds (196,000) of all maternal deaths (WHO, 2019). Most of those deaths were associated with preventable causes and could have been avoided with simple antenatal care services. But in low-resource areas, or regions affected by war and natural disasters, identifying high-risk pregnancies in time to reduce maternal and infant mortality can be challenging.

To improve the situation, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Philips Foundation and Philips Experience Design joined forces to create the High-Risk Pregnancy (HRP) Referral Tool to raise awareness at community level on early signs of potential complications as well as healthy practices during pregnancies.

In remote settings, poor infrastructural conditions limit the delivery of healthcare services even if primary care facilities are in place. Facilities are often hampered by limited or no access to electricity and connectivity, and even when connectivity works, the costs of digital transfer is not affordable. The design, development and deployment of the HRP referral cards has provided a cost-effective analogue tool for communities in these challenging settings.

Specifically designed as a low-cost, portable set of tear-resistant cards which can be taken on household visits by healthcare workers, the HRP Referral Tool translates technical medical knowledge into illustrations and easy to digest information on pregnancy. The clarity of the design has ensured the cards are highly effective in equipping traditional birth attendants and community healthcare volunteers with reliable knowledge in:

• Recognising and explaining the signs and discomforts of high-risk pregnancies to women in the community, encouraging them to approach healthcare centres for consultation and safe delivery.
• Educating and raising awareness on practices for healthy pregnancies, and on the importance of regular antenatal check-ups.

“Earlier risk detection in pregnancy will lead to earlier referrals from the community to the first level of care, and from primary healthcare to hospitals,” says Sigrid Kopp, former Supra Regional Midwife for the International Committee of the Red Cross, adding that,“this time factor plays a crucial role when working on the high number of maternal morbidity and mortality in areas where the access to quality healthcare is hampered due to low coverage of healthcare services, harmful cultural practices, war, displacement, insecurity, lack of infrastructure, lack of skilled healthcare providers and lack of awareness and knowledge.”

Delivering impact

In two Kenyan counties, a 15-month evidence-based study of the tool’s effectiveness was conducted with the Kenya Red Cross Society, and the many benefits generated included:

• The identification and referral of 485 women with pregnancy risks to healthcare centres by healthcare workers.
• An increase in the number of 1^st and 4^th antenatal care visits in study facilities in both counties.
• 75% of women of reproductive age in the county of Siaya, and 91% in Bomet reported gaining new knowledge on risks and danger signs in pregnancy, with the most mentioned including excessive vomiting and absence of foetal movement.
• There was a significant increase in knowledge of healthy habits in pregnancy in both counties, with the most mentioned including healthy eating, drinking clean water, avoiding carrying heavy weights and attending antenatal care visits.
• A reduction in the number of high-risk complications in pregnancy was reported by health workers, which they attributed to timely referrals related to use of the tool.

The HRP tool has had such an impact in Sub-Saharan Africa touching the lives of over 280,000 women and their families, there are now plans to adapt and scale the tool in China, to help provide better healthcare services to pregnant mothers in remote, rural communities there.

“In using design to respond to a key priority within the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, the DBA Design Effectiveness Grand Prix Award winning, High-Risk Pregnancy Referral Tool is having a profound impact on the lives of women and their families,” says DBA CEO, Deborah Dawton. “As the world increases its reliance on technology, there are many communities around the world which those advancements cannot reach. The design of the HRP referral tool is a fantastic example of how design can deliver powerful, appropriate solutions to reach communities across varying socio-demographics to create positive change for people and the planet.”

Watch a short video about The High-Risk Pregnancy Referral Tool

• Income per head is an important metric to track, and easy enough for everyone to understand – one speaker suggested £10k per person per month as a good target to aim for. If you need help with this, or any aspect of completing the DBA’s Annual Survey, then get in touch with Adam. Note the DBA recommends £100-120k per person per year (especially for London based agencies that have a higher cost base to cope with). London based DBA members average £107k per head if they do not include freelancers, but as freelancers are a people cost to create income they should be included. This made the average for London based DBA member agencies £97.5k per head in 2022. Outside of London the average (inc. freelancers) was £80k per head.
• Keep an eye on cashflow, and keep at least 2-3 months of overheads covered in cash reserves. And if you don’t have that yet, you can cut back on costs and bake the discipline into the team. One member built their culture around everyone in the team understanding where they can add value and how their individual actions, be that ordering pos-its or working late on a deck, contribute to the bottom line. 
• If your team understand where they can add value, it helps them to prioritise what they spend time on and know what actions make the most money, otherwise they were busy but making no money. And if there is a project that isn’t the most profitable, but keeps the team engaged or brings publicity, then only one at a time makes financial sense, and share your decision making with the team so they understand why you’re choosing one client over another. 
• Being able to say no and resisting those ‘sugar rush’ easy wins is key. Blair Enns has some great insights on this. Listen to his podcast with David C. Baker here or his new podcast on dealing with procurement departments here. You can also get his latest book with an exclusive DBA member only discount: use code DBA2023 to get the ‘action pack’ version of Pricing Creativity for $199 instead of $320. Be quick, that expires on Friday. 
• Scenario planning was a vital way one member ensured their business was financially resilient, giving the team accountability and encouraging them to be honest and realistic about their pipelines so you can have the data at your fingertips. What if we lost that client? Or if they don’t pay on time or the scope creeps? Being able to make decisions on this information is crucial, especially in times of uncertainty.  
• Do you have an invoice finance facility set up? Don’t wait until you need it. If payment terms aren’t at an ideal 30-day level, you can suggest a 1% reduction in overall fees and save yourself money on your invoice facility.
• Private banking might also give you much better, more personal and experienced advice than your high street banks – one speaker recommended Arbuthnot Lantham, other banks are available. 
• Getting external support can be critical for those of you who are too close to the work to be objective – the DBA Experts can help.
• For more on financial resilience, we had a webinar last month on the same topic with a panel of DBA experts, you can watch the recording here. 

Our Members’ Forum takes place on the first Monday of each month, at 4 – 5pm. If you would like to attend, get in touch here. 

Our next Members’ Forum will be taking place on Monday 3 July at 4pm BST.

Existing board directors, Andy Sexton, Partner and Executive Creative Director at 2LK and Stephanie Verschoor, Head of Design & New Digital Solutions at NatWest Group were also reappointed for a further term of three years. Three directors stepped down at the AGM after various terms of service, including Diageo’s Global Design Director, Jeremy Lindley who was first elected to the DBA’s board in 2015 and served as Chair of the DBA’s board for three years, between 2019 and 2022.

The DBA’s directors are either members of the association, or other design sector experts, and possess diverse experience of bringing design to the strategy-setting c-suite of business. They work closely with the DBA’s management team to develop the strategy by which the DBA supports the sector to drive design ever further up the agenda in business and government and to build universal confidence in design investment.

Jos Harrison has been building brands at Reckitt for nearly 15 years and is Global Head of Brand Experience and Design at the business.

Says Harrison of his appointment,“Radical transformation is needed to meet the needs of our changing planet and society, and designers will play a pivotal role in this change. In the last few years, I have become extremely passionate about sustainability, including obtaining a qualification in Carbon Net-Zero business leadership from Cambridge University, and I’m excited to join the DBA Board to help guide the DBA and by extension, designers everywhere – in preparing themselves to lead entire industries into a more sustainable future.”

“I’m delighted to welcome our new board director, Reckitt’s Jos Harrison whose experience will be invaluable to the DBA’s work in preparing the design sector for the future,” says DBA Chief Executive, Deborah Dawton.

“My thanks also to the three directors stepping down this year, Coley Porter Bell’s Vicky Bullen and Volvo Group’s Pernilla Johannson for the insight, commitment and enthusiasm they brought to their roles, and in particular to Diageo’s Jeremy Lindley, who also chaired the DBA overseeing a strategic review, and instigated the formation of our first council of members on the issue of DE&I in design. This work will see Jeremy continue as chair of the group, which later in 2023 aim to deliver tangible assets into members that will impact their approach to DE&I.”

“It has been a great privilege and learning journey to serve on the DBA Board since 2015 and to have been elected Chair by my fellow Directors for the three-year term 2019 – 2022,” says Lindley.

“I was delighted to hand over as Chair to the super talented Warren Hutchinson who is already leading the Board with vigour and strategic brilliance. While I was Chair, the Board and Executive Team of the DBA aligned to a bold new purpose, vision and mission and reaffirmed the values of the DBA in service of the design industry. I am deeply proud of how the DBA team led and supported the industry through Covid, the organisation emerged stronger and with exciting plans that will further strengthen our dynamic industry. I look forward to continuing to be an active member and advocate for Design Effectiveness.”

To view the DBA Board of Directors head here.

With thanks to Vicky Bullen of Coley Porter Bell, Pernilla Johannson of Volvo Group and Jeremy Lindley of Diageo for their time and invaluable insight, who stepped down from the Board at the 2023 AGM.

• The Design & Technology Association’s Blueprint 1000 and specifically the Teachers in Residence programme provides D&T teachers the opportunity to get under the skin of the industry and take this knowledge back to the students they teach. If you’d like to get in touch with Debbie at Bulletproof about opening up your studio to showcase the opportunities in the industry, you can do so on LinkedIn. 
• The Creative Mentor Network aims to make design more accessible and inclusive regardless of socio-economic background. 
• Katie Greenyer, Creative Talent and Network Director at Pentland Brands shared the story of Design Pool, an in-house internship programme that has helped 160 young people who wouldn’t have otherwise been aware of the creative industries, get into design. 
• The National Saturday Club gives 13-16 year olds a peak inside the kitchen of design through Universities – and the participants get to showcase their work at Somerset House – a great initiative to inspire the future generation in a wide range of subjects, not just design. 
• Many young people are choosing not to leave education with £50k+ debt and are forgoing degrees all together. There was a discussion among members about advertising jobs that weren’t just for graduates and improving the diversity and accessibility of the industry. Creative Lives in Progress was mentioned as a good place to share roles for juniors. 
• There was an interesting discussion about apprenticeships, with some on the call having set schemes up in their own businesses to catch creatives before ‘bad habits’ appear – and they’ve been impressed by the dedication and attitude of the young people not choosing the ‘traditional’ route to a design education. 
• Placements were also discussed as a great way to get real-life experience of the industry to understand it better, with many on the call having been on sandwich courses themselves.
• One member shared a 15-year plan they have established to get young teenagers from local schools into their studios for a tour and to hear from people in different roles and understand the different career paths open in the design industry.
• And this forum served as a reminder for one member to give back in some way to the industry they love. If this is something you want to do too, I’d encourage you to go to the closest school to your front door.  
• The DBA is involved with Discover Creative Careers, a government-funded programme working to ensure there is a larger and more diverse intake of talent into the creative industries – more information to come on this soon.

Our Members’ Forum takes place on the first Monday of each month, at 4 – 5pm. If you would like to attend, get in touch here. 

Our next Members’ Forum will be taking place on Monday 5 June at 4pm BST.

The report is a valuable tool for agencies in planning new business approaches and assessing their client services and relationships. It enables an agency to put themselves in their clients’ shoes and predict reactions and objections before they are raised, and for clients it enables them to benchmark the issues they face, their approach to design and the relationship they have with their agencies.

The report is divided into three sections:

• Client world: looking at wider client pressures and concerns, which impact the way in which they operate.
• Winning clients: looking at agency new business activity and pitching.
• Retaining and growing clients: covering client service and development issues.

Here are my top 5 take-outs from the report and launch event:

1. The rise of data & technology

43% of marketing directors believe that data and analytics is an area they need to improve on – while at the same time they say that the combination of creativity and technical skills is hard to find. How do agencies get to grips with integrating the use, management, and if necessary the display of data and analytics in their work, or with helping clients understand what information is useful while they are drowning in a sea of data?

2. The perceived lack of commercial awareness in agencies

The skills combination of creativity and commercial awareness is the most sought after and rarest agency combination. Agencies that understand the commercialises of the client business are able to justify creative concepts and smooth internal anxieties. At the same time 75% of clients admit to finding design effectiveness difficult to quantify. There is a huge opportunity for astute agencies to lead the conversation around effectiveness to prove their commercial acumen.

3. Clients are risk averse

82% of clients describe themselves as risk averse. They understand the need for brand differentiation and innovation but there needs to be a strong business case. Agencies who call on clients to ‘be brave’ without addressing the elements of risk head-on will end up being ignored. Build the business case along side the creative case.

4. One Direction - not the band, a single creative route

63% of clients prefer to be presented with just one creative route rather than the option of three. If the agency is to be seen as the expert then should they be advising on the single solution rather than pushing the decision onto the client? The caveat here comes in the fact that the remaining 37% strongly favour having a choice. Report author and DBA Expert, Jonathan Kirk shares a few thoughts on this in the video snippet below.

5. Building existing client relationships

40% of clients are not fully aware of the full skill set of their incumbent agency. Perhaps because the average time that clients last saw a credentials presentation from their existing agency is 2.5 years. Concerns about skills gaps are an opportunity to talk to clients about their needs. Ask questions about projects that are going to other agencies – why were you not considered?

Further resources

Data and creativity
43% of marketing directors believe that data & analytics is an area that needs to be improved upon. A lot of clients now are much more taken up with the ‘how’ of marketing – how to connect messages across different channels and how to gain actionable insights from data that will drive customer experiences. The time spent on this shrinks the amount of time spent on the importance of the great creative idea. So how do we combat that and keep the importance of the great idea at the forefront when clients’ time is being squeezed. 
 
Commercial awareness
The most sought after skill in agencies is creativity aligned with commercial awareness. If agencies asked for more data, focussed specifically around the business challenge you’re being asked to solve, it could help drive more effective design. Whilst at the same time making sure you continue to bring your unique perspective and creativity to the insights. Having enough commercial awareness to put together a strong business case for what you’re recommending, and giving clients enough so that they can argue what you’re recommending internally is key – more relevance, more credibility, and more chance of selling ideas to wider stakeholders.
 
Risk aversion
82% of clients describe themselves as risk averse. The creative presentation is a nervy thing for them – so how can we help them reduce down that subjectivity. Many agencies don’t do a creative brief to translate the client’s brief into something that can give them something tangible to rationalise the creative work, as well as inspire the creative team. But how do you manage this process, alongside the client, without killing the creative idea?
 
One direction
63% of clients prefer to be presented with just one creative route rather than the option of three. At the same time, a lot of agencies say they are collaborative, but many still rely on the big reveal of that one idea, which can exacerbate the nerviness explored earlier. So how can we work in a way where we get this balance right – particularly when the other 37% of clients strongly prefer to be presented with options rather than one big idea. It’s about knowing your client and understanding what works in their culture.

Our Members’ Forum takes place on the first Monday of each month, at 4 – 5pm or Tuesday if it is a bank holiday. If you would like to attend, get in touch here. 

Our next Members’ Forum will be taking place on Tuesday 2 May at 4pm BST.