There is an interesting approach in the creative services procurement area that has been gaining traction among large, multi-national advertisers… the “unbundling” of creative and production services. As part of this unbundling process, advertisers turn to a production specialist, rather than their creative agencies as a resource for generating creative outputs.
At first glance, this seemed an unusual move fraught with agency management challenges and the risk of sub-standard creative outputs tied to the uncoupling process. However, upon further reflection, the approach is not dissimilar to the process employed today. The chief difference is that the advertiser serves on point in sourcing and managing the production resource rather than the agency. Aside from the obvious improvement in agency fee transparency tied to the segregation of services, the benefits are certainly intriguing.
With the advent of technology enhancements in the area of digital brand asset management systems, a production resource that can provide support across multiple regions and generate outputs for a myriad of media touch points could improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the advertiser’s creative development process. How? Effectiveness can be enhanced by the ability to manage brand expressions on a consistent basis, around the globe and across media. From an efficiency perspective the centralized control afforded by a brand asset management system and a client sourced production resource will improve the level of repurposing of creative assets, thus reducing the need to recreate the wheel time and time again across an advertiser’s creative agency network.
Finally, in a market where response time is a highly prized commodity, this approach will help advertisers carve time out of the creative development cycle. Interested.in an agency professional’s take on this approach? Check out the following blog by Steve Puttock, Managing Director of Schwak London … Read More.