How agencies can build back better in 2021 (and beyond)

There’s no shortage of kiss-2020-goodbye memes flying around on social these days. Yes, I admit it has been an exhausting and challenging year, but has it really been a bad year business-wise? If I ignore the multitude of spreadsheets that show sales, gross margins, and profits down (this is the year we have permission to ignore these spreadsheets), and focus on what we achieved in such adversity, there’s actually a lot that I deem as great. 

For the team at FUSE Create, we have a lot to be thankful for. We’ve by-in-large held the team together. We used our excess bandwidth to reinvest in our brand, divert our energies to a couple of amazing charities, and had the right amount of time to focus on some prime new client opportunities that have massively paid off (we’re experts at Zoom pitching now). Again, if I was judging 2020 from a staff-to-margin capacity report, it would look bleak… but that’s short-sighted and something us indies have the power to play with. When I judge it from what really matters – our culture, our team and our work – I’m elated. 

Now that this pandemic is hopefully coming to an end sometime in 2021, there are lessons I believe most agencies can benefit from as we look to the future. 

The first lesson centers around flatter and more agile agencies. The multi-level org charts and multi-tiered process layers clogged up the system during COVID. It’s harder to get a project through the company when 16 people have to touch it. Much easier when the team is 5. This fact alone highlights the need to flatten our agencies – more intensity around project teams working on defined projects for set periods of time – versus a hierarchy of approvals. This wasn’t easy and we haven’t ironed out all the factors as process is still incredibly important, but this simplification can deliver two incredibly needed wins for agencies: 1) faster, more concise turn-around for clients, and 2) better profits for agencies through efficiency gains.  

No surprise but we’re rethinking our relationship with the physical office. I vehemently hold firm that a creative agency needs a home base, but how this office works and how we congregate is completely up for a rethink. First off, we can cut our space requirements in half, and that’s a big saving in Toronto. The space we need tomorrow is more of a hybrid of collaborative and culture-building spaces – like client war-rooms or café-styled work zones. Gone are the days of one-desk-per-person and all the trappings of office hoarding that we’ve been addicted to and expecting everyone to be in the office for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. Work where the best work gets done. This is incredibly exciting and freeing. 

Without the usual networking opportunities at hand (events, conferences, etc.) that help us stay connected with new business opportunities, the power of our brand and how we disseminate this awareness is critical now. We rebranded in May as FUSE Create (yes, during week 7 of the lockdown). We decided to move forward with the launch because it was a way for us to reinforce our mission while showing off our evolution as a company. And we couldn’t be happier with the results. It brought our team closer together, built up our culture and reinforced our values. Most importantly, it means we’ve remained on client and prospect’s minds in a year where the new business typical channels have all been disrupted (all except for the least fruitful channel – MERX and the dreaded cattle-call RFP). 

My final lesson of 2020 is about leadership. Two words: over-communicate! To keep our culture connected and strong in a year of so many unknowns, FUSE’s leadership team has had to over-communicate. Distance has created a knowledge and empathy void. To combat this, we’ve hosted far more check-ins than usual, one to two company-wide meetings a month, and many update emails and Teams postings. And because I’m sick of all the video chats, many of us have implemented socially distanced walks to help really connect in person (I’ve done 3 this week alone). Why should this end when the pandemic is over? We’ve broadened our approach, let’s keep this going. 

Before I sign off, I have one request for all marketers: We must help the future marketing and advertising leaders get into this amazing industry. We as marketers, owe it to the next generation to hire and support this new crop of talent. My advice for students is to start connecting with people on LinkedIn and Twitter. Depending on what industry you want to be in, thought leaders will be on at least one (if not both) platforms. And for the leaders that students reach out to, make time for them! This is a challenging time to make connections and find that real-world experience. So, if you have the budget, hire at least 2 students this summer. 

Let’s celebrate our resolve and use this strength to make 2021 significantly stronger while hopefully enjoying the small wins of things returning to some semblance of normality.