Instead, any indie that considers pitching or running your business is investing its most precious and limited resources to do so—time, energy, focus, and heart.
I cannot overstate the importance of that. Hiring an independent agency means you will hire the people who directly control the decision to work with you. There’s no corporate overlord poking with electric prods. Indies choose where we put energy, how to grow, what to spill blood, sweat, and tears on.
When a leader from an independent sits across the table from you, they are essentially telling you they believe in you. You, the brand. You, the person running the brand. And they believe enough to bet on you.
It’s also bringing wild creativity and innovation because creative output isn’t in some codified, calcified rule book. You will not get rinse-and-repeat, recycled work in an independent, but instead a new solution tailored for your business problem and audience. You get surprise. The audience gets it, too.
Each day is brimming with invention, because as we all know, necessity is its mother, and independents crack new ways to solve big problems on the regular. Which means the solutions that help independents compete are built from client needs, not corporate needs.
From developing new models, to experimenting with nontraditional creative playgrounds for deeper engagement, the future feels like it’s for anyone to make.
We’re seeing the fruits of this success. The larger indies dominated Cannes and are doing the same across other creative awards shows. And as I’ve mentioned above, independent shops are competing and winning against larger holding companies for AORs.
If you’re an advertising star—or even a rising star—and you look at this energy versus what’s happening with holdcos in the headlines, you feel the pull. Every day, we read about another ruthless mashing together of once-great agency brands. We hear about the selling off of key agency properties. It’s creating a cloudiness of vision and purpose. What do you put on a T-shirt when the agency name changes so much?
If you’re a brand wondering why your peers are investing so heavily in independents, here’s your answer: They want to get back to making advertising with partners who have the power to put them first. Like AriZona iced tea, but for big ideas.
