Can Agencies Work Together?

While the agency world has removed itself from the full service offerings mentality, (for the most part), there is an increasing desire for agencies to work together on projects. Whether it’s an out sourced model, or a true collaboration, they continue to try to find ways to provide more to clients, while paying less for employee overhead.

In reality, the idea of collaboration makes perfect sense, considering there are more and more areas of specialization, and each area is becoming increasingly complicated.

But is this model really possible?  Well in my opinion, it’s going to have to be, so it’s just a matter of how?

We have worked with agencies many times in the past, and in most cases, it has not worked out that well. That’s not to say we don’t continue to look into the possibility, and find aspects of it appealing, but more often than not the cons have often outweighed the pros. Timelines are marginalized, budgets get blown, communication is sometimes 4th hand, and there is always a problem with one department in particular; DESIGN.

The reason design is normally the culprit is because more often than not it’s the one department every agency has, thus creating a crossover of services. Whether you’re a traditional agency or an interactive one, a PR agency or a social media one, every single agency has at least one designer, if not a team of them. And having a crossover of services or similar talents can be toxic. Look at the band Oasis. Those two idiots can’t stop fighting as to who the star is.

Since I’m not a designer I feel I’ve had the opportunity to see these things play out from a different perspective. It’s generally not about being pretty vs ugly or flash vs HTML5, but instead its the fact that they are arguing over a subjective piece of the project. And this happens because whoever is spearheading the project allows this to happen. The team leaders inability to delegate effectively, or establish expectations, creates a lot of blurred roles and boundaries. So while it happens at the design phase, it’s not really ever the designers fault. Just because you agree to play in the sandbox together, doesn’t mean you should both be fighting over the same bucket and shovel.

But while its true that design, or overall expectations, are incredibly important, we can’t ignore the two other elephants in the room. And those two elephants are communication and respect. There needs to be a very clear understanding as to who the players are, and what the process looks like in regards to communication. Are you going to use Basecamp? Are you going to have weekly status calls? Are you going to have bi weekly face to face meetings? Or are you going to allow for any impromptu email from any of 12 different people to take precedence throughout the process?

And then there is respect. If one company gives off an arrogant, sense of entitlement attitude towards the other...you’re screwed. Now matter how good your plans have been laid out for the project, there are going to be issues, and you’re going to be much better suited to handle each of them if you’re working as a team, instead of as a bunch of petulant, finger pointing individuals.

We happen to have an agency relationship/partnership that has actually proven to be quite successful over the last 5 years, and the reasons are pretty straight forward. There is no crossover of services, and therefore no second guessing or conflict. There's also clear communication, and continued respect amongst each person at both companies. The company is Seer Interactive and they handle Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing. It’s pretty clear where we stop and where they pick up. There are no hidden agendas, and total transparency between our companies and with clients, which enables us to collaborate with one another, instead of working in silos against one another.

So the next time you consider going into an agency partnership on a project, set clear expectations that agency A will be handling x, y and z, while agency B will be handling a, b and c. And remember to do so with a smile...because like it or not, you’re in this project together.

Have you had any specific successes or failures with this model? If so, feel free to share.