On day two of the Creative Liaisons program hosted by LIA, Bianca Guimaraes, partner and executive creative director, Mischief, discussed the importance of a client-agency partnership, and how the latter should be looking to ‘sell ideas’ to the former.

Mischief, an agency based in the United States is perceived to create bold and provocative work.

She started with a spoiler.

“We don’t sell anything (to clients). We talk, discuss and solve. It’s a partnership we develop with our clients through a strategic process which is sometimes more important than our creative process. What looks like risky provocative work is very carefully thought through,” she said.

Guimaraes stated how Mischief goes through a two-step process for all its work.

“Agencies need to reframe their mindsets and partner with clients for real. They must show that they care about the brand, almost as much as the client does. A client will notice you are talking about an idea when you discuss it with enthusiasm. Talk to the client and explain why the idea is right for them and not cool to add to your portfolio,” she said.

The second step the agency follows is empathising with the client.

“If you understand where the client is coming from, it makes a big difference. Get your client to know that you understand the issues and want to address them,” she said before adding about the importance of resilience.

“The best creatives are the ones who are most resilient and not necessarily the ones with the best ideas. You could have brilliant ideas but get frustrated fast. If you keep at it, you’ll get there. Agencies have worked with clients for almost two years before the first campaign came out. Once the first campaign comes out, it’s easier (to create the next pieces of work),” added Guimaraes.

She further stated the importance of what an agency is saying and how it’s said.

“Creative is strategy and strategy is creative. This is because the great creatives do think strategically and the best strategists think creatively. If this practice is followed, half the work is done already and you are solving for the right problem,” she said.

Giving an example of solving the right problem, Guimaraes stated how a brand-new building was created with a slow elevator.

“Solving that issue required renovation which meant millions had to be spent on the structure. That problem was solved by adding a mirror next to the waiting area of the elevator. People didn’t care about the elevator's speed; they were bored waiting for it. The mirror made sure they were looking at themselves while waiting for the mirror, thus eliminating the boredom,” she said.

She compared this to a campaign the agency created for Tinder.

“Tinder had a perception problem. They wanted to convince users they were not a hook-up app. We looked to redefine the meaning of hooking up rather than changing the perception,” said Guimaraes.

Guimaraes also advised creatives to create more than one brief.

“It works for us because there’s often more than one insight on the brand and people who use the brand. But at the same time, don’t do more than two briefs,” she said.

The agency had two briefs for Cash App as the client tried to tackle online scammers.

“The first one was telling people that they are not dumb, but scammers are getting better at scamming. The second was that scammers sound better online and if they happened offline, one wouldn’t fall for it,” she said, before stating how the client went for the latter.

Guimaraes then spoke about the importance of how agencies end up delivering these solutions for clients.

Giving the example of a piece of work created for sexual wellness brand Dame after a law ending abortion access in the USA, she said, “Go wide and then go deep. Make clients more comfortable with some lines that use puns and rhymes. Great names do half the selling for you. This (above) campaign was stating that if the government is f****** with you, let’s f*** with them,” she said.

She also stated the importance of not hiding a creative idea from other partners, like PR, for example as they can help advocate it.
She added, “Give the product lots of love – talk about product shots. Address concerns before the client does. That shows the client that the agency also cares and they will trust you longer. Once the idea is sold – the real selling begins. Everyone thinks that they like the idea – it’s about bringing the idea to life. Some things can be changed, but protect the core of the idea with your life. But if it’s essential, then tell the client that you can come back with another idea. It’s hard to kill an idea, but it’s important.”

Her last piece of advice before signing off was:

“The second you get a yes from the client, shut the f*** up and stop selling.”