Chemistry is the vital ingredient for agencies and marketers

chemistry image

Last week, the AdWeek Europe conference came to London. And with it came some amazing speakers, and a number of great seminars. But, as the event closed its door, I’m not sure we’ve asked those industry leaders who took to the stage the right questions.

Throughout the week, much of the talk centred on the promise of content marketing. It was being heralded as the ‘must-do’ tactic if you want to successfully engage your brand with the consumer. Then, on the final afternoon I attended Marketing Week’s CMO 3.0 seminar, and something magical happened.

The topic of content marketing came up, and Kristof Fahy, CMO at William Hill entered the debate. Actually, he didn’t just enter the debate, he set about exploding the myth that is, content marketing. And in turn opened the eyes of many in the audience.

In fairness, all of the CMOs on the panel offered the type of forthright opinions which our industry should demand when attending such conferences. Because if we don’t, we won’t just end up drinking the kool-aid, we’ll drown in it.

While the panel challenged a lot of what had been raised in previous days, for me the most telling issue they raised was the value of good chemistry between agencies and clients. All agreed it can’t be faked. But they did agree it is something that can be worked on and improved. They want agencies to be more curious, and make the relationship a partnership where both have a real stake in the success of the client’s business.

However, what I loved was the advice wasn’t dressed up with any grand claims which had been the theme throughout the week, it was common sense. Because we in the marketing industry – and I’m including myself in this – just love to get hooked on the next big thing. But if we don’t get the basics right, and fail to create a chemistry with our clients that delivers value to all, then all the content in the world won’t bring us success.