Direct To Client: Time to toss out the old

President and CEO of the Association of Independent Producers (AICP), Matt Miller, talks about the industry’s reluctance to accept a new way of working

Have you noticed an increase in the amount of production companies doing direct-to-client advertising work recently?

Absolutely. As clients are beginning to require more video content for the various platforms on which they showcase their advertising, we are now seeing many different types of production arrangements, including our members working directly with clients.

Is it a good way of operating? Is it better or worse than the traditional way where the agency works for the client?

It can be a very beneficial way of working. Because each project is unique in its scope, content and delivery, there is no way to say if one method is better than the other. Good communication is key to any process, as is ensuring that fair business practices are maintained, regardless of where the job originates and which entities are involved.

What kind of effect (if any) does direct-to-client work have on production companies and the industry as a whole?

The industry is very much in flux. I call this shift in relationships the three Cs. Up until very recently, the creative side of this industry has existed in a very linear formation. The three Cs upends that relationship flow. One day you might relate to an entity as a client, then as a competitor the next, and a collaborator the following day. This takes our linear model and tosses it out of the window.

At the core of this shift is the fact that clients have become much more savvy in what they are looking for from their marketing services suppliers and the fact that they are looking away from accessing creative only from the linear model. They are also constantly looking for greater efficiencies in filling their expanding needs. This [new way] was first pushed by clients when the real ‘agency of record’ model became cumbersome and overlooked as the need for work from ‘digital’ and other specialty agencies became greater.

So where will ideas come from?

In this model they could be coming from anywhere. Agencies don’t have a lock on ideas and creative development and production companies don’t have a lock on all execution – especially in the digital space.

Do production companies have to employ account-type people to handle communication with the clients? 

Even the role of account people is changing every day. There will always be a lead person who will handle the relationship with the client no matter what entity is working with them, but it is less important to have an ‘interpreter’ between creatives and the client, because clients have become much more comfortable with ‘creative speak’.

Is there a fear of or stigma attached to working directly with clients?

During the period of shift this can be of great concern to many. After all, the idea of competing with an entity that you have related to primarily as your client may cause angst (to say the least). When discussing this aspect of relationship shift, people use words like ‘retaliation’. For a production company it would be: “If I work with a client directly, their agency may retaliate and not give me any work.”

The idea of ‘retaliation’ is not a factor at play when your skills are recognised and needed every bit as much as those of whom you may work with or work for. It’s obvious that this fear exists in cases where you are bumping into those above you in the old model, and less so when your boundaries stretch downward, as evidenced by the cavalier nature of agencies developing their in-house production and post production capabilities, and the quiet nature that production entities work under when doing client-direct work.

This thinking, I believe, is the major factor that is slowing down the inevitable move into an industry that operates every day under the three Cs. This fear is based on nothing more than a lack of confidence in what you are bringing to the table – and your belief that the old model will continue to dominate. If you are confident in your skills and talents to develop and execute ideas, you are valuable as a supplier and a problem solver, regardless of who is functioning as your client, or who you are collaborating or competing with. Relationships need to become more fluid, and those on all sides need to realise that by working under the three Cs, creative solutions will be that much easier to achieve and may come from anywhere.

Does working direct-to-client help or hinder the creative process?

That all depends on the individuals involved and the projects and why the process is put in place. There are some entities that are floating the notion of ‘de-coupling’ as a way that business should be done for efficiency’s sake. In this model the agency supplies creative and the production company works directly with the client. This is a truly flawed approach, because it is assuming that there is an efficiency of scale and that there are better overall results to be had by always disengaging the agency and production company. In many cases this could hinder the creative process. 

Does doing direct-to-client have any kind of impact on a production company’s relationship with AICP?

AICP exists to provide value and service to our members. This has been the case since it was founded 40 years ago. As the needs of our members change, our agenda changes to meet their needs. As the make-up of the membership changes, we will develop new ways to provide service to them as we have done with AICP Digital.