Lithuanian marketers demand less and less creativity
Interview with Mindaugas Juozapavičius Head of Creative at Clinic 212 He has been in advertising for 14 years, with the experience different Vilnius agencies (VRS, Not Perfect, Ogilvy, Love)
Clinic 212 is almost 18 years old agency in Vilnius now with about 25 people. The biggest clients are AVAD Baltic, Danske Bank Group, Akropolis etc.
What`s the situation in Lithuanian agency landscape right now?
The former agency “starts” MILK and Not Perfect are not doing very well right now.
People who started the second generation of agencies in 2000s are getting tired, leaving agencies just to form 2-3 people teams, creative duets. Also, the Lithuanian marketers are demanding less and less creativity. They only demand promo campaigns, the image campaigns have become a small fraction of our job.
Does it mean that the clients do not need branding campaigns any more?
If you stop the image campaigns, then all the brands become the same, competing against each other based on the price. Brands can lose emotional connection with their customers.
But right now, it seems that the clients are very happy with the promotional campaigns, they are fast and cheap.
How can you make money as an agency?
You adapt, hire people short-term, change the way you work. I guess MILK is the main victim of the traditional agency model. From the very beginning, they were extremely creative-driven. It helped them to win awards, but they didn`t attract clients, who didn`t want that creativity. So they always had to push clients` boundaries, but the clients didn`t want that much of the creativity.
But what to do when you are a creative person?
If you look back to the very beginning, then advertising was meant to help the client to sell. I think many creatives have forgotten why they are even here and began to do crazy stuff without explaining why is it necessary.
I think in this business you have to do creative stuff within the boundaries, otherwise you are an artist.
If you look at your client portfolio right now, planning the future, what areas are growing in terms of platforms and media?
There`s more and more demand for digital solutions. More clients ask for something for their Facebook and Instagram. We had our own department for that service, now they are growing into a full agency. I still think that TV is not dead, a lot of people still watch it.
How to keep long-term relations between the client and the agency?
You just have to listen to the needs of the clients, not put your creative urges above the client's needs, not forget what`s the purpose of the advertising. Keep the brief in the mind, don`t think about the awards and the Cannes Lions.
How to generate good ideas?
You have to be curious. On the one hand, there are people who don`t really care about the advertising. Then there are people who only know to advertise. You should have different kinds of people in the agency. Right now we are trying this new method of not having constantly the same creative teams, but shaking things up. It needs coordinating and planning, but joining together two different people is always better than just having two people doing everything the same way.
How do you sell brave ideas to clients who are scared of taking a risk?
I think you have to be passionate about it, believe in it. But at the same time, you need to reassure that you haven`t forgotten his business plan and the brief.
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