Leaders in Creative Production

Why a consultancy-first approach is key to technology adoption

Human Connection

“Rather than believing that the human touch is fading in our industry, we should consider it a necessary ingredient for crafting the human connections that are so necessary”

To meet modern content demand, all conversations between clients and production agencies currently wrap around technology, automation, and ways of optimizing assets while maintaining global and local relevancy. This becomes increasingly important with the rise of digital consumption and data to better understand the needs of clients, personalize the messaging, and increase performance.

However, adopting innovation is a drastic change of working for many of our partners. And if we don’t have the right team to implement and create the adoption, we might be pushing too much on our client’s possibilities, making them ultimately feel overwhelmed and afraid of change. After all, we should not expect a machine to measure the sensitivity and qualitative intricacies of our emotions, at least not yet.

We can help our clients achieve their goals by adopting a consultative approach.

Growth will only happen if technological innovation goes hand-in-hand with a clear understanding of our client’s ecosystem and business objectives, and this is where a consultancy-first approach becomes key. But what does this exactly mean?

A consultative approach means treating our clients as partners in the solution, and as co-creators of new products. We listen to their needs and understand the challenges they face before we even suggest a product. Trying to put our own perspective in front of them doesn’t always resonate. Today, most companies already have a technology strategy. We need to understand the technology drivers that shape the way they work and align ours with that perspective.

Our ultimate goal is to help our clients develop their businesses, and we do this by providing technology solutions that help them achieve success. We provide ongoing training and consulting to ensure that they are able to get the most out of our systems, whether they are new or enhanced. To ensure that we can provide the best solution possible, we need to focus on meeting our clients’ changing needs by continually updating our technology.

We build long-term relationships with our clients through a combination of technology expertise, problem-solving skills, and a consultative approach. Doing so helps us deliver successful creative production executions and business solutions that meet our client’s goals and helps them elevate their brand.

So how can we champion a consultancy-first approach in the industry?

To undertake consultancy successfully, you need to grasp certain key principles.

• For the production agency, this translates into adding a consultancy angle to everything we do. In the same way creativity must be at the core of every successful and meaningful execution, we need to embed active listening and consultation to every touchpoint with our clients.
• To the client, this means engaging in conversations where the production agency clearly understands the client ecosystem, the pain points, and opportunities that allow our process to create tailor-made tech solutions.
• For procurement specifically, this means evaluating a team’s qualitative results, which will undoubtedly lead to better results in the quantitative metrics.

Moving Forward

Consultancy is becoming an increasing force when evaluating production partners. As a result, clients will prefer to work with more reliable partners they can trust and build a long-term relationship with, rather than several partners focusing on technology that will meet immediate needs only, but won’t be able to build “for the future”.

From data metrics to reports and analytics. From packaged software to customized solutions. From state-of-the-art tools to long-term innovations. In a world where technology is key to leading, the added value of relationships will mark the difference.

Rather than believing that the human touch is fading in our industry, we should consider it a necessary ingredient for crafting the human connections that are so necessary. What is clear is that, as we look towards the future of digital advertising, talent will remain at the forefront of change and innovation. In the end, it all comes down to our people.

Audrey Amselli is Global Business Lead for L’Oréal at Craft Worldwide.