Is the traditional agency model broken? It is, according to a recent Forbes article. For the last decade, clients have been pushing back on big agency fees. The traditional agency-client service model is centered on the agency, not the client. The best talent is leaving the big agencies. The only winners are the agencies and their profits; both the client and the talent suffer.
Yes, the traditional agency model is broken. Women in the advertising and design world have known this for years.
Agencies are inherently not structured well. When I left my Creative Director job after the dot-com boom and bust, I recall too many layers in the agency. Lots of players, approval processes took longer, playing the telephone game and getting mixed messages from client to designer was crazy-making for the whole team. Late nights and all-nighters were the norm. Fine – and sort of fun – when we were young designers in our 20’s. Not OK when we decided to start having kids. Most of the new moms bailed the agency world. Some of the best women (moms or not) quit altogether, or started freelancing out of frustration.
I left the large agency world only 6 years after being in it. Freelancing and freedom was my ticket out. After the dot-com boom and bust in the early 2000’s, I created Affina, a brand identity design firm. We were small, but we were mighty. Highest talent. Clients had direct relationships with our designers, not layers of project or account managers. We were in it successfully for 20 years. But I saw something bigger. It was hard for “smaller agencies” like us to get big, sustainable work.
I envisioned a new way of working: a way for women creative entrepreneurs (like me) to come together on larger projects as needed. Custom teams, highly skilled, based solely on client’s needs (rather than the traditional large agency model of cobbling together B- and C-level players who happened to be on staff – and believe me – I saw this in action when I was on the client side for 18 months as an internal creative director. I digress, fodder for another post.) This new way of working was the catalyst for creating Addwomxn.
In January of 2020 this collaborative agency idea started to come alive. But the idea changed radically six months later when a mere two miles away from my home and office, the murder of George Floyd took place. The world started paying attention in a new way – and so were we. It wasn’t about uplifting women anymore, it was about understanding the white privilege that had that initially propelled my career and figuring out what to do about that.
Enter the vision of Addwomxn: a creative consultancy intent on advancing diversity.
We focus on client needs – exceptionally strategic and creative output – with a keen eye on intentionally lifting up highly-talented women. Our goal at Addwomxn is to bring women – especially BIPOC women – sustainable, meaningful work so they can support their families and not be dependent on an almost-impossible agency-style job.
I agree with Avi Dan from Forbes when he describes the future agency of “ad hoc teams of creative and differently skilled people coming together on projects, then disbanding.” He adds, “The people involved change as do the projects change. At the center of it all are client relationships, people-and project-management skills, and high-level creative direction and culture.”
He concludes the future is “a true culture of entrepreneurship and creativity.” Has he been reading my mind for the last three years? Enter Addwomxn.
Do you have award-winning creative teams on your side? Addwomxn does. Our deeply vetted team of award-winning women is igniting the creative services world. Because diverse thinking delivers the best ideas.
