Friday was a great treat for everyone from the Indianapolis office because we finally got to meet the new folks from Los Angeles. So, we of course prepared the office by drawing all over the walls with chalk. Okay, let me clarify: Topher let our inner-child out and decided to paint one of the walls with black chalkboard paint (see picture below). After lots of mingling, tasty noshes and board games at the Geek Bar (our new creative office), everyone headed to bed before the big day.

Saturday was a whole new experience for most of the group. The SPICE Challenge was a series of physical challenges that let us really build our lines of communication with each other and also problem solve in various ways. We were able to work through every challenge thrown at us. Sometimes we made it look easy, and when it wasn’t, we were inspired by the individual ways in which the group came together. Yes, there were those infamous trust falls you hear about! Every single team member braved the six-foot plunge. “I was very impressed by how well we worked together and how intelligent every member of our team is. After getting to know everyone I’m also very excited and confident about the future of xiik!” -Dave Gable, Web Developer, Indianapolis.

But how does this relate to the workplace? Why does a physical challenge like this bring together a company with team members operating out of four US cities with clients in six states?

It gave us all a chance to really learn about each other’s strengths and weaknesses and also to work together as a team in different scenarios other than our normal interactions. From the zip line to the trust falls, everything was empowering and very moving in its own unique way. “I was surprised at how well we did and at how naturally we were able to work together as a team, despite the fact that many of us had never worked in the same room as one another before.” -Aviva Mohilner, Business Development, Los Angeles.

And you can even loop its importance back to our clients: an experience like this helps us see how to build even better communication with them and understand how to handle hiccups that can arise in the process. Overall, everyone had a blast and can’t wait for our next retreat. How about wilderness survival? Anyone?

You’re a designer or programmer without an Accounts Team.

And the decision to operate without one is not limited to the one-man band we call freelancers. Established firms are just as guilty of these familiar nightmares:  “The sales guy told us six weeks; it’s been six months and he rarely calls back.”  “It’s not at all what we wanted; we don’t feel like there was anyone advocating for our needs.”  “Her designs are pretty good, but man — she seemed bothered every time we called…”

If you’ve ever worked with a creative services firm without an accounts team, you know that they generally put client management into the hands of the project doers. The worst-case (and most frequent) scenario is to be given to the salesperson who drew up your contract. Most often s/he will want to pass you off to the creative department because his/her job is finding new business, not project management. So now you’re talking to a designer familiar with how your product should look, but possibly not in ownership of the overall campaign strategy.  Therefore, when you requests changes, the designer may not know if those changes will weaken that strategy or if the change will adversely affect other considerations like programming, printing costs, timeline, etc. Additionally, the designer is often working on several projects at once and would like to avoid slowing down the delivery all of his/her projects in favor of your phone call.  Next! You get passed to a new team member in this unfortunate game of hot potato, maybe a programmer with half of the puzzle. The most frustrating aspect comes once the project is finished and you have no idea who to contact.  New enhancements, revisions or updates may even be made by a completely different person again.  Being the hot potato is not a formula for good service.

Account Managers and Coordinators are important because they provide a communication center between the client and the firm. If you want a good process, you need a communicator. Someone who can respond quickly, anticipate your needs, and ensure that you know what’s going on at every stage. A good designer is focused on your design; a good account manager is focused on you. It makes a world of difference to have someone familiar with the ins and outs of the development process, so s/he can advocate for the changes you want, while balancing that with best design practices.  Who’s going to speak for you at that internal meeting? Your Account Manager.

Another point: too many people think that the marketing strategy is done after the initial project is complete. Successful companies, however, know that marketing tools like websites must evolve over time as a company gains better understanding of its audience. In that regard, an Account Manager is your marketing partner. Visualize having someone going through the development alongside you, always considering your perspective and gaining valuable information about your working style and your company’s path. When it comes time for that next project, whether that’s four weeks or four months, why start from scratch? Your Account Manager will already be equipped to pick up where you left off and help you make strategic marketing decisions.

For instance, at the most reputable advertising agencies and creative services firms like xiik, Account Managers and Coordinators work closely with clients throughout ideation, development, delivery, and are available after the project is complete. They keep clients up-to-date as to key project milestones, walk them through design decisions, present research, solve concerns, and help clients evolve their marketing strategy over time. When you need to ask a question, the designer has not put down the pen. Account Managers identify a solution that can then be efficiently executed by the designer. They also ensure that the designer receives all site assets and approvals from the client on time. This high level of attention serves to predict potential red flags and help the client through unpredictable roadblocks, which in turn serves to keep projects on-time, on-budget and, most importantly, on-strategy.

Ultimately, it’s about breaking down the process and assigning aspects of it to those who do it best: a system of checks and balances that results in a better product, more personalized service, and a low-stress experience for all parties. That means you get to focus more energy on your own products and services, rather than chasing down an unruly vendor.

Christopher Maikish is an Account Manager in xiik’s Los Angeles office.

At the second annual meeting of the Interactive Advertising Bureau, CEO Randy Rothenberg opines, “Although performance marketing has powered our growth, we must move beyond the click and redouble our efforts to prove…great brands can be created and sustained using interactive media.” Add to that Wenda Harris Millard, co-CEO of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, also at the IAB event, who spoke even more plainly: “While for years the business seemed to err on the side of art, now I think it errs on the side of science and math.” Here, we see a viewpoint largely concerned with the way existing standards stifle creative innovation. These folks just want the online user to have a more lasting and memorable interaction with these ads.

I am 100% with them on that.

Conversely, we have another recent development on the metrics side, as reported by Mike Shields of Mediaweek:

“Microsoft has formed a coalition of prominent online publishers to consult on the development of PubCenter, its still-in-beta ad management tool. The new Publisher Leadership Council includes Viacom, The New York Times, Dow Jones Online, Time Inc. and IAC…PubCenter ultimately promises to streamline the many laborious processes inherent to selling online advertising, including inventory management, forecasting, pricing and reporting.”

Microsoft’s move is not the first, as Mediaweek brings to mind Publicis Groupe‘s June 2008 launch of VivaKi. According to its press release, VivaKi is a “strategic initiative designed to significantly improve the performance of advertisers’ marketing investments.” How will they accomplish this?

“VivaKi will take advantage of the combined scale of the autonomous operations of Digitas, Starcom-MediaVest, Denuo and ZenithOptimedia to develop new services, new tools, and new partnerships. The strategic move reflects Publicis Groupe’s conviction that a totally new and more integrated organization of the media, interactive, analog and digital universes is necessary in order to leverage scale and technological innovation, the key determinants of future success.”

Considering part of xiik’s mission is an integrated approach to marketing solutions, I’d have to say: I am 100% with them on that, too.

And herein lies the snag: as is often the case in public discourse in a modern democracy, the real solution is usually not A or B, but both. The decision between creative innovation and ROI is a patently false choice and the lazy route to take. There is no reason, just as we encourage an interactive dialogue between company and consumer, why we can’t include both innovative concepts and metrics at the table. I say let these two factions duke it out on a high level, so long as they agree to including one another in their quest for excellence. Here on the ground at xiik, we know that we’ll continue to build upon our existing dialogue between creative and technical, adding to our conversation those very burgeoning industry innovations as they develop.

Sources:

“Millard Issues Plea for More Art, Less Science,” Zachary Rodgers, ClickZ.com, 2/23/09

“Microsoft Forms Coalition of Web Publishers,” Mike Shields, Mediaweek.com, 2/23/09

There are a few disagreements that I’ve still got.  First, in addition to the iPhone not displaying Flash, other popular phones including Windows Mobile Devices and Palm also will not display properly either.  Second, while iPhone controls only 1.1% of the total market share for ALL cellular devices, depending on who you ask, it controls 16-30% of the market for SmartPhones, meaning that as many as 1 in 3 of the phones built for browsing can’t see your Flash-based website.  

Nike.com is a great site.  You could not have accomplished the same WOW factor in HTML.  However, Endless.com is also an amazing e-commerce shoe site.  My personal opinion is that Endless is easier to use.  The navigation is immediate, the interface is familiar and the back button takes me back one page, rather than back to the beginning.

I’d also say that if you’re going to use Flash, use it!  Why can I zoom in on the details of the shoe on Endless, a non-Flash site, and not on Nike?  As I said in the previous posting, use Flash to add value, not just for kicks.  It’s definitely slower to load and usually less intuitive than HTML counterparts, so make sure that you are adding value other than just  ”pretty”. 

Before finishing with Nike, I’d also say that this site would fall more into the Portfolio category that I mentioned was still okay for Flash sites.  It is, afterall, a portfolio of their shoes, in the same way that we produced several all-flash art/exhibit portfolios for the Indiana State Museum.  Notice that when you go to Nike’s Corporate Site (also an awesome site), you can do a quick run-through without finding a stitch of Flash.

It’s a disagreement between several developers and the conversation will likely go on.  From our viewpoint, Flash is becoming more popular, but as an element, rather than the entire site.  I don’t see a day soon when we’ll see a significant percentage of corporate sites moving to all-Flash.  However, we’ll keep our ears and eyes out and if that’s what their users demand, we xiik geeks will be among the first agencies to change course and lead our clients that way.  I think that the overall lesson is “know thy audience.”

Thank you again, Mark, for sparking such an interesting discussion!