The Value of the Contract Creative: Writers and Other Consultants

There is another inherent value to bringing in strong conceptual contract writers and other creatives than the obvious "we need someone to do this job" factor. This is something I noticed on a recent job. I suppose you could sum it up easily with the phrase "fresh thinking," but that sounds a bit trite without context. It goes like this: Creative agency teams work for a client over time, getting entrenched with the brand identity, living and breathing the brand. No one better understands the brand character than this team. And they learn ways to work that make creating work for their client more profitable (this is an important development for the business). Grooves of process (and thinking) are created. They become efficient. Profitable.

Enter the contract writer. This individual comes from the outside without any preconceptions, but by necessity must quickly learn about the brand and begin producing quality work. The very nature of this process, looking intently at a brand and how to progress it forward, demands a sort of analytic breakdown and rebuilding -- thinking that often has not been done since the team started on the brand. Even if the contractor is not intentionally attempting to point out new ways of looking at brand thinking or process, this process will occur.

Then it becomes an issue of diplomacy. The creative consultant is by definition an outsider. The agency team should be encouraged to invite that outsider, as a project progresses, to share his or her insights on brand thinking and team process. There will be things that that outsider doesn't understand; he or she will have false insights. Conversely, there will be things that the entrenched agency team will think they know -- they've been knowing it for a year already, by god. An open mind is needed here.

So basically, the right creative consultants are good for business. They help agencies rediscover their brands. It's likely, in this case, the contractor will server more as catalyst than innovator. The contract writer will point at an undiscovered path, which the agency team will blaze.