A new way

I was flicking through a well thumbed copy of The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding and re-read the short chapter on The Law of Contraction. The authors expand on their thinking that great things happen when businesses and brands narrow their focus and give several examples of brands who have achieved great success by following this principle.

The basic premise for those who have not read the book is that by narrowing our focus we can either create a new category like Stolichnaya did with premium vodka or become synonymous with the category think submarine sandwiches and Subway.

Any way this got me thinking about how agencies could follow the law of contraction in a new and interesting way. We all know that the over whelming majority of work produced by agencies is for existing or potential clients but what would happen if an agency contracted its client focus to zero - crazy right.

Well at first hearing this idea sounds like financial suicide, agencies have viewed their reason for being through the client prism since time out of mind. Clients bring context, legitimacy and more importantly budget to the creative process but they also bring bias, historical baggage and their own perspective regarding what is possible.

So what happens when you remove the client - you remove the filter through which you see the market.

And when you remove the client filter all ideas can be viewed from one simple perspective - will it change how consumers behave.

And given the consumer empowered world we now live in what moves consumers to behave differently will be the defining factor governing success for businesses and brands in the future.

So can agencies develop a deep understanding of a vertical market - of course they can.
Can agencies instigate a consumer conversation - absolutely.
Can they produce a planning thought without a specific client in mind - easily.
Could agencies produce creative concepts for testing with consumers - no brainer.

So if an agency can identify a gap or opportunity in a market, develop an understanding of what drives consumer behaviour and produce a planning thought that would drive the creation of a conceptual idea, do we still need a client in the traditional sense?

But where is the commercial return for the agency?

The idea still has to be sold, no doubt about it. But consider this, the idea may be relevant to multiple clients rather than one, giving the agency more opportunities to generate a financial return. By selling an idea you don't have to wait for the pitch and can instigate an approach to a prospect at any time. And finally would clients be more open to seeing another set of credentials or looking at a road tested idea from an agency who understands their market and their customers, I'll let you decide.