Do stronger client-agency relationships produce stronger results?

Author: Gary Lande

In a word, absolutely.

Which really shouldn’t come as a surprise. But now there’s actual data that links stronger client-agency relationships with more effective work. Thanks to a revealing report created by two globally recognized data research companies, WARC and Aprais.

The report drew from an incredibly large pool of data: the Aprais Database and WARC Effective 100 Database. 1,800 winners of effectiveness awards worldwide cross-matched with 25,000 client/agency evaluations between 2013 and 2022.

And not only did it conclude that great client-agency relationships yielded the most effective work, it provided insights into which aspects of the relationship are most important.

Two particular skills that rose to the top were in the areas of strategy and media buying.

We’ve found some of the best creative and media strategies come from asking a lot of questions and getting to know as much as possible (the good, the bad and everything in-between) about a client’s business, and what they want to accomplish from both a brand and performance point of view. In other words, a solid strategy should be discovered, not manufactured.

 
The other significant skill where strong relationships matter is media buying.

 
We’ve learned that the better the data, the more effective the media buying strategy we can create. Again, it all stems from the relationship. When our media team and client build an environment of transparency, sharing all the right data, we can nimbly analyze and optimize to create the strongest performing media buys.

This study confirms what we’ve known all along. In a business world often filled with uncertainty, a strong relationship with your clients is invaluable. Because it leads to stronger, more effective work.

And it happens at every level – account, media, creative, analytics, even billing – the more we’re in this together, the more we can grow together.