Each month we pick one of our team to share their expertise and this month it’s our Head of Client Services, Becci Flitton-O’Brien’s, turn.
What are your top tips for clients to get the best out of creative agencies?
Having a relationship of trust is important; the more you can trust your agency with creative freedom the better results you’ll get. It’s the sign of a good partnership – sometimes an overly detailed brief or too much information given can cripple the creativity.
I’d also say to be upfront with a realistic budget. There’s no point the agency team coming up with a campaign that costs £100k if you’ve only got £10k to spend and it can really help cut out any wasted time in between the creative pitch and execution.
I also think that one of Pace’s strengths is involving everyone in the creative process, the client services, design, PR and content teams all work together on every step of a project which results in a smoother experience for a client as well as allowing more creative opportunities to arise.
What creative processes have you got at Pace?
We’re a creative business; we’re all creative, regardless of our job title. And that creativity comes to the fore when we can collaborate, share our ideas and be spontaneous. Anyone who isn’t ‘in the room’ can’t make the same contribution.
We schedule time away from our desks to be creative, whether that’s in our monthly ideation sessions, doing One Minute Briefs for the agency-wide meeting or gathering round in the morning to talk about what’s in the news and how it could impact, or inspire, our clients and their campaigns.
You’ll also see us heading out for team lunch outings, enjoying a cuddle with the office dog Tilly, and filming reels or TikTok content when we just need some time to allow our brains to relax.
Sitting at a screen, in online meetings, working with documents and responding to emails is a crucial part of our roles, but recognising that it’s about balance if we’re to get the best out of the team is important too.
It’s really important for me personally to get outside and take even a ten minute walk around the block each day (and its sometimes where the best ideas come!).
What’s the best creative campaign that you’ve worked on?
The one that comes to mind is the Victory Leisure Homes April Fools’ Day campaign last year which was a great example of collaboration across the Pace team, from creative to PR and social.
We worked with our client Victory Leisure Homes to launch a Yorkshire-inspired holiday home, God’s Own Caravan. Its features included a Yorkshire Tea tap, dedicated flat cap stand and framed photographs of Yorkshire stars including the Chuckle Brothers.
We even got a retweet from Paul Chuckle himself which is a real career highlight for me!
