Now Reading | Reinventing the Agency Around One Principle: “What if we scrapped it all?” by Project Isaac
http://www.adweek.com/brandshare/agency-world-due-reinvention-163800#!/
Chris Weil is the CEO of Momentum Worldwide, a nontraditional agency that spans all facets of creative, media and ideation. In this little excerpt he talks about the difference between creativity (“inspired”) and invention (“brave”). I loved this little gem because I love asking the question what if we scrapped it all and started over? Yes. What if? The potential in that for change is truly powerful.
Adweek: What inventive solutions do you think your business/industry needs?
Weil: The industry needs the sort of invention that comes from asking, “What if we scrapped all of it and started over?” We’d need to invent our entire value proposition and our business model from scratch. We’re currently focused on creativity and execution as our measures of success, and compensation is based primarily on how we do these two things. What if we started our client conversation focused on growth—the reason why we do this work together? We need to ask the fundamental question of, “What is our value proposition?” And I believe our answer to that is the ability to drive growth for our clients’ brands and their business. If that is our starting point, then we change our value proposition to clients, and that changes our business model.
The idea of focusing on growth and working towards that together with our clients, not for our clients, is how we approach every conversation with Fierce. Our value proposition is that we are our clients strategic partners, not their vendors. We come alongside our clients, understand their goals for growth, and then accomplish them together with a unified strategy and plan, starting at the C-suite. This is the mindset that has allowed us to do our most impactful work.
Adweek: How do you distinguish between creativity and invention?
Weil: Creativity is the idea, and invention is the action. At their best, simplest form, they are two sides of the same coin—a powerful, symbiotic relationship at the start of anything important. The invention is the hard part. Lots of people have ideas. Invention is the flawless execution, the elbow grease, the strategic risks and the lessons learned from mistakes. Creativity is inspired and invention is brave.
