Unearthing the information you need to build a client profile is easy to get. Some of it you can obtain immediately by interviewing your client at the outset. Some you'll get from industry contacts of your own, from press releases, and from news articles about the client. (Oh, there aren't any? Does your client know you can help them with that?)
There's always the client's Web site, of course, and competitor Web sites. Publicly traded companies always have an annual report that can yield useful information. But the bulk of the information that will help you serve your client best comes from regular interaction. Even when you aren't actively working on a project for the client, stay in touch. The occasional phone call or e-mail works wonders for keeping the relationship tuned up. And never underestimate the power of taking a client to lunch.
Yes, you'll work harder at first as you learn the ins and outs of the client's business. But you'll reap the benefits of that work every time because you'll enjoy a deep level of client trust. You'll do a better job, establish a better rapport, and be rewarded with a long-term relationship that pays off for months and years to come.
The ad agency is a bridge between the client's offer and the minds of end-users, a system for turning insights into creativity into relationships and profits. An ad agency had to offer its clients ideas that constituted "brilliant strategy". Creativity was not just about good advertisements; it was all about ideas, which united the forces of marketing, communication and technology.
Intel Inside was one such creative business idea (CBI). Though Intel is all about high technology, the advertising focus was simply on how computer users could rest reassured with the presence of the Pentium chip. In fact, Intel even commissioned Euro RSCG to do a report for it as against the original choice.
Similarly, Select Comfort, a mattress company which wasn't doing well, re-invented itself as one in the `Sleep Numbers' business after Euro RSCG suggested it capitalise on technology which enabled users to inflate their mattresses to their own comfort levels (which were marked by a number).
Yet another instance of a CBI was what the ad agency did for Billiken, a candy company in Argentina. On its advice, the company asked children to design candy. The winning designs were manufactured as candy and the company also got a bank of 11,000 ideas from the children's efforts - this was an instance of a company and an ad agency becoming partners in an effort to put the consumer at the centre of its R&D, Mr Raina said, in support of his belief that agencies could make a difference to a client's business and bottom-line.
As for CBIs in India, Euro RSCG's effort with Sony Max, to turn cricket into family entertainment from its being just a man thing was an example of an "evolving CBI", he said. The TV channel had something for both the purists and the novices during the recent ICC cup and that succeeded in grabbing much attention and high TRPs.
The reincarnation of personal transport moped Hero Puch as a business and utility vehicle for `delivery segments' such as couriers, milkmen and pizza chains was another instance of CBI.
There's always the client's Web site, of course, and competitor Web sites. Publicly traded companies always have an annual report that can yield useful information. But the bulk of the information that will help you serve your client best comes from regular interaction. Even when you aren't actively working on a project for the client, stay in touch. The occasional phone call or e-mail works wonders for keeping the relationship tuned up. And never underestimate the power of taking a client to lunch.
Yes, you'll work harder at first as you learn the ins and outs of the client's business. But you'll reap the benefits of that work every time because you'll enjoy a deep level of client trust. You'll do a better job, establish a better rapport, and be rewarded with a long-term relationship that pays off for months and years to come.
The ad agency is a bridge between the client's offer and the minds of end-users, a system for turning insights into creativity into relationships and profits. An ad agency had to offer its clients ideas that constituted "brilliant strategy". Creativity was not just about good advertisements; it was all about ideas, which united the forces of marketing, communication and technology.
Intel Inside was one such creative business idea (CBI). Though Intel is all about high technology, the advertising focus was simply on how computer users could rest reassured with the presence of the Pentium chip. In fact, Intel even commissioned Euro RSCG to do a report for it as against the original choice.
Similarly, Select Comfort, a mattress company which wasn't doing well, re-invented itself as one in the `Sleep Numbers' business after Euro RSCG suggested it capitalise on technology which enabled users to inflate their mattresses to their own comfort levels (which were marked by a number).
Yet another instance of a CBI was what the ad agency did for Billiken, a candy company in Argentina. On its advice, the company asked children to design candy. The winning designs were manufactured as candy and the company also got a bank of 11,000 ideas from the children's efforts - this was an instance of a company and an ad agency becoming partners in an effort to put the consumer at the centre of its R&D, Mr Raina said, in support of his belief that agencies could make a difference to a client's business and bottom-line.
As for CBIs in India, Euro RSCG's effort with Sony Max, to turn cricket into family entertainment from its being just a man thing was an example of an "evolving CBI", he said. The TV channel had something for both the purists and the novices during the recent ICC cup and that succeeded in grabbing much attention and high TRPs.
The reincarnation of personal transport moped Hero Puch as a business and utility vehicle for `delivery segments' such as couriers, milkmen and pizza chains was another instance of CBI.