Have you reached "Whatever" with your B2B agency?

As a seasoned creative I’m used to fielding all types of client questions, but this one threw me for a loop. Phone rings, and I get no greeting, just— “Are we at whatever?”

What am I meant to say to that?

OK, let’s back up. At BTB Integrated Marketing we pride ourselves on hitting the creative mark on the first round, but sometimes it might take a round of revisions. Maybe the client received some valuable input or maybe the actions of a competitor are forcing a pivot. Understandable. But there have been a few projects in my career where the rounds of client edits just keep coming. One person wants this rev, another wants that rev, then before you know it, you’re on version “G” with no end in sight.

The clock is ticking, the budget is evaporating, and the agency creatives are getting frustrated. Instead of offering the client their best creative thinking, they are spitting back client changes and sighing “Whatever.”

The client on the phone was a veteran marketer with agency experience. He knew all about “Whatever.” After figuring out just who was on the other end of the line and what was being asking, I laughed and replied, “Nope. But we can see it from here.”

How did we resolve this? We reconvened the client and agency teams and reviewed the original creative brief. By talking through the edits and relating them back to the brief we were able to identify some client requests as personal preference, some that strayed from the goals of the brief, and some that were insightful observations based on the client’s experience and the customer’s needs. By talking it through, we were able to implement a final round of changes that we all agreed would help us communicate with the audience.

Yes, another meeting takes time, but the extra communication got us back on track, the creative was finished on time and put into play—way better than endless rounds of “Whatever.”