What Do Marketers Need From Agencies?

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The CMO of Chime Chimed In

Yesterday, Vineet Mehra, the CMO of Chime, the juggernaut $7B fintech/bank player, took to LinkedIn to talk about what he would do as an agency leader.

Here is my TL:DR version (and then I am going to rant for a bit, after…cool?):

1. Sell Outcomes

2. Be All In On AI

3. Campaigns Spewers → Culture Engines

4. DFY → Built With You

5. Campaign Metrics → Company Metrics

Read on for my take on each of these CRITICAL/CRUCIAL/HOLY SHIT issues

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1. Sell Outcomes, Not Hours

If you have EVER spoken to me about agency fee structures, you know that I am dead set against hours based pricing. It is a negative incentive to be efficient & it does not really value the experience of the agency practitioner. But Vineet is taking a slightly different stand… effort and hours do not matter. Outcomes are what matters and that’s what you should sell…
Tim’s Response: AGREE 💯 

2. AI is a Tool → AI as OS

Vineet isn’t saying “use ChatGPT as a copywriter” (because we all know that gets you “passable but not great” copy), but leverage AI as a fundamental layer to ingest & distribute information & make your AI agents and workflows feed their machine, from creative briefs to reporting.(BTW, my friends at Parallax put together a great agency leader guide to answering questions about AI - get yours here)
Tim’s Take: OMFG, YES! 🤩 

3. Campaign Factories → Culture Engine

This is a bit of a challenging one for many agencies because as much as we like to value our own creativity…we are often risk averse because we just don’t want to fuck stuff up. That’s why so many of us love “best practices” and “playbooks”. CMOs want the creative stuff. They want the edge that matters. They want to be relevant & interesting…and they want it NOW. That’s hard to do - but see item 2. That can make it easier to move fast.
Tim’s Take: This is the most important item on the list. BE CREATIVE. SAY THE WEIRD THING. DON’T BE FUCKING BORING. 🎤 💧 

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4. Done For You → Built With You

Great marketers have always viewed agencies as essential partners & vice versa. But in today’s transactional world, often times the marketer/agency relationship dwindles to an “outsourced labor” kind of model, where the agency is a multi-headed contractor fulfilling the client’s orders, or the agency is supposed to go off on a solo quest to create something that the client loves and is effective in the marketplace without the benefit of client input. Vineet says, “F*ck that.” The agency that wins gets its hands dirty by building with the client, having two-way feedback & thriving in the mess of opinions, styles & cultures. Teach your client how to do what you do…show them your tools. They aren’t going to fire you because they suddenly know how to use Photoshop & Figma…they still need your fire and insight, but make them better at what they do and the will bring you closer. (And way harder to fire.)
Tim’s Take: 😅 It’s way less scary than you think and when you let the client in, they let you in, too.

5. Platform Metrics → P&L

Agencies love metrics. Anything that you can do as an agency to show that you are making an impact is like gold. But guess what? Impressions, sessions, CTR rates, CvR, email opens…none of it matters. All of those metrics are what YOU use to manage performance. Vineet says that you MUST report on the metrics that matter to the business. Contribution margin? 2nd time purchases? New buyers< Leads from a particular industry? I dunno what it is, but it’s YOUR job to keep on asking the questions that force the client to reveal what they value, and then you report on that.
Tim’s Take: 🤩 It should have ALWAYS been this way, but rarely has been.

None Of This Is Radical or New…But Today’s It’s URGENT

Why do I say that? Media is expensive. Market attention is scarce. Technology budgets have shrunk. The future is uncertain.

Agencies have to respond now to the visceral needs of their clients. Even if your clients aren't expressing this explicitly to you, they are thinking it. They are feeling it. This sense that they need deep, transparent, fast, efficient partners has been rattling around in their chests since the pandemic.

Now is the time that you need to change the way that you look at your clients

Today, execution is still important. But with the advent of tools and better data, it has never been more crucial that you are able to help your clients understand what they ought to execute. You can now help them decide which road to take.

What is really magical about what Vineet has written, is that this change in marketer needs allows you to take a leadership stance with your clients.

You are teaching them the way to execute.
You are building in a shared environment.
You are reporting on the metrics that matter.
You are helping them push the boundaries of what they feel is possible.

Today, you become a CATALYST…

…rather than an a vendor who’s only motion is reaction.

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