One of the biggest key factors to meaningful growth is maintaining the exisiting client relationships that one has already invested time and resources in. We tapped Havas NY's Executive Director of Marketing and Business Development, Stephanie Pollitt, for some insight into Havas' integrated strategy for exponential growth: retention of existing relationships, knowing when to say no, and building long-lasting meaningful brands.
When searching for growth opportunities, how do you determine what is the right fit for the agency?
The basis of any growth opportunity and finding the “right fit” starts with accepting that it’s not about the search process itself — it’s about the partnership being developed.
Collaboration and mutual understanding are fundamental principles from the get-go and are practiced throughout the pitch process. For us, identifying the right partner requires honesty, transparency, and most importantly, the ability to say no when we feel it’s not going to deliver a long-lasting and mutually rewarding relationship. It’s hard to say no — especially if there is a flashy logo that could become part of your client roster — and it’s easy to convince yourself of why your agency might be a good fit. But at the end of the day, the more pitches you say no to, the more time you have to focus on the ones that are truly right, and the ones that you have a better chance of winning.
What does exponential growth look like for your agency? For example, project work vs AOR pitches, geographic, interdisciplinary, etc.
At Havas, much of our growth over the last few years has been a direct result of our fully integrated model. Called the Havas Village, this model combines disciplines under one mission, one process, and one P&L. Clients looking for less agency hassle seek integrated solutions. We’ve seen more integrated pitches and more personal success in this area—most recently, Havas was named the global integrated agency of record for Harman. The Village has also been a catalyst for organic growth, positioning our account leads as navigators and cross-selling solutions as their clients' needs change.
When it comes to disciplines, we’ve seen the biggest growth in our CX practice. Globally, we’ve brought together data, technology, and strategy to create strong centers of excellence. As more and more marketers are responsible for the entire customer journey, we don’t see growth in this area slowing down anytime soon.
And finally, the biggest thing overlooked when thinking about growth is actually retention. The most strategic growth opportunity is retaining and growing existing clients — not spending time and resources chasing new ones. We spend time cementing existing relationships and establishing the areas where we need to innovate and evolve our capabilities — this has been an essential part of our growth strategy, especially when considering the uncertainty in the market today. In our New York office, some of our client relationships are 10 or 20 years in the making, and our client satisfaction and referral rating scores are higher than ever.
What are the key challenges and / or opportunities for brands in today’s marketing economy?
Of course, there are the challenges we all know — surviving in the current economy, becoming a more sustainable brand, and taking advantage of more first-party data. But all of this adds up to the biggest challenge of all — how to become a more meaningful brand in people’s lives. Havas has conducted a Meaningful Brands® study for over a decade, and what we’ve seen is that the majority of brands could disappear tomorrow and no one would care. The most successful brands today are ones that are relevant to people’s lives — they make things easier, they inform or entertain, they have shared values, and they help support the greater good. Meaningful brands also outperform the stock market and generally have more passionate and loyal fans. From a growth and new business standpoint, this is where we have seen the most opportunity — becoming a more strategic partner to our clients and thinking about longer - term solutions to build brands that people can’t live without.
Given the uncertainty of the past couple of years, are there any trend predictions you have about where the ad and media industries are headed?
Given recent uncertainty and a continued outlook of disruption across many industries, Havas did some research into clients’ expectations of their agency relationships, and what value agencies could provide to deliver marketing transformation. What we see is that tech solutions, sustainability, and purpose-led communications are key areas of focus over the next 3-5 years.
There is currently a large gap between what agencies think they provide and the marketer’s perceived value of those services. Increasingly, procurement leaders say they are responsible for driving transformation and innovation and adopting new strategies for these focus areas — and they need to tie everything back to measurable value and return on investment. As there continues to be a large number of marketers moving to different companies, we do predict more pitches and clients changing agency partners without formal review processes or the help of pitch consultants. However, agencies can continue to future-proof their position by partnering with their clients to build strategies that address these key focus areas, and by providing meaningful value that addresses the changing concerns in the marketplace.