… and your brother. And your sister and so on.
We all know them. Those creative firms that have a “look”. Those firms that, when you see a piece of theirs, you say “Oh, that must me Hyper Grunge Agency.” We have them around here (St. Louis that is). Everyone knows what they do and everyone knows that versatility is not their strong point. And yet clients still go to them and the end product looks just like everything else their shop spits out.
Don’t get me wrong. I am all for formulaic. I am a firm believer of sticking with what works and not throwing the baby out with the bath water and all that crap. But here’s my question: If an ad they do for a construction company looks essentially the same as an ad they do for, let’s say, a cancer center, is it resonating with the right audience? If both ads “speak” in the same tone, are they talking to or talking at the reader?
Formulaic works just fine in bar tending. Afterall, there’s nothing worse than a overly-liquored mojito. But in your marketing efforts, you should be trying to target your messaging to your audience(s) and your agency should respect that idea. If your creative firm is delivering the same solutions time and time again (to you and their other clients), they only have their interest at heart and not yours or your customer’s.