There's only one point to our work: to make our clients more successful than they could be without us.
Workmanlike execution of brilliant strategy leaves money on the table. Brilliant creative built on faulty assumptions can be even more costly. We don’t think a client should have to choose between the two. Extraordinary success requires both.
So we always try to start the creative process with great clarity about the people we're trying to reach, the problem we're trying to solve and the conversation we're trying to bring to life. If you don't know where you're going, you're pretty likely not to end up there.
It’s all about making our clients’ brands more valuable. The most valuable brands are clear and consistent about who they are and what they stand for, but bring richness and dimension to both by constantly finding fresh new ways to engage their best prospects. That's why "360-degree" look-and-feel integration falls short: it's clarity without the engagement.
Instead, we seek a more fluid form of integration, in which each tool we need to shape the conversation that we are trying to create – whether it’s interactive, TV, print, PR, events, collateral, DR, product integration or “social marketing” – does what it’s best suited to accomplish.
While recognizing the importance of a wide range of tools, we contend that there is no such thing as a brilliant "full-service" agency. We know what we can do and are passionate about doing better than anyone else. For everything else, we handpick and guide the efforts of equally talented, equally passionate outside partners.
You don’t need much more than an iPhone to agree that interactive has truly changed everything. That's why since 2003 interactive has been fully integrated into our existing disciplines, instead of operating as a separate business. Nearly 90% of our frontline staff are actively engaged in interactive, developing into lateral thinkers able to move fluidly between the online and offline worlds.
While interactive has changed everything, we also hold steadfastly to a belief in the power of paradigm-shifting brand ideas, which is probably why we've come up with more than our share.
Every one of the five words that shape our values (Listen. Provoke. Love. Simplify. Believe.) is part of the recipe for our very best work.