HOW TO FIND A CREATIVE AGENCY THAT WORKS FOR YOU
What do you picture when you think of a creative agency? A room full of well-groomed, middle aged hipsters riffing on “big ad ideas”? Or perhaps it’s a chic, fearless creative director briefing her team on the power of “the curated experience.” Or maybe a team of animators and digital creators “harnessing the future via Web3.”
Therein lies the problem. In today’s creative world, there’s an increasingly diverse group of businesses that all identify as creative agencies. You could feasibly argue that the term “creative agency” is interchangeable with marketing agency, advertising agency, digital agency, video agency or even PR agency.
This leaves many people feeling confused about what a creative agency does and how one can work for their brand or business.
So let’s dive in and get some clarity.
Defining “Creative Agency”
A creative agency is a business that offers a variety of services that fall under the umbrella of advertising. Basically, if you need any type of creative work or business promotion, you should consider working with one.
The services they offer are varied but might include branding, advertising, social media curation or marketing strategy. Content creation, aka “creative”, may also fall within their scope and includes video, photography, animation, copywriting, branding and graphic design. They may also offer communication services, like PR, influencer marketing and paid placement, etc.
And these services are all run by a collective of creative professionals who excel at promoting your brand.
Who are the Creatives in a Creative Agency?
These roles differ depending on the size and type of creative agency in question. However, these are some of the most common roles you will come across:
Creative Directors mentor, motivate, and lead all creative teams. Their main priority is to provide guidance on the creative direction of the agency as a whole. They cast vision, form concepts and pilot design philosophy. They ensure the agency’s reputation is solid and are often the very heart and soul of the community. Think Colleen Decourcy or PJ Pereira.
Art Directors are responsible for the visual styling of each project. Typically reporting directly to the creative director, they are trendsetters in tune with fashions, and new artistic styles. One of the biggest challenges art directors face is translating desired moods, messages, concepts, and underdeveloped ideas into still or moving imagery.
Copywriters work closely with art directors and are responsible for all the written content within a brand’s marketing and advertising strategy, whether that’s a script for a commercial, social media or website content, blog post or ebook. They are storytellers, and it’s up to them to create a tone of voice that corresponds with the creative direction and visual language for the brand.
Producers collaborate with the creative teams to deliver a product that meets the creative needs of the client. They are responsible for finding and connecting artistic disciplines, such as writers, directors, videographers and talent. They are responsible for all elements of pre-production, production and post-production, right up to launch.
Project Managers manage the creative team’s workload and keep everyone on track with deadlines and other agreed criteria. They may oversee multiple projects at a time and are practical, organized and good at putting out fires.
Is a creative agency the same as a marketing agency?
In a word “no” … but hang on, it’s not that straightforward.
Both types of agencies are used in the promotion of your business and services. However, a creative agency is all about brand and a marketing agency is all about, well, marketing.
The brand is the visual and written expression of your product and service, whereas marketing is the way you share those creative expressions to your customers and the market.
A creative agency will create the visual assets, like logo, video, photography, copy and animation whereas, a marketing agency is concerned with the execution of strategy that shares those assets with the world.
Sometimes a creative agency will provide marketing and at times a marketing agency will do creative, but typically they will excel at just one of those areas, so it’s always worth doing your research.
Also, to muddy the waters further, there are niche categories within the creative agency too. As the field of advertising and marketing grows, more specialized agencies are created.
What are these specialized Creative Agencies?
- The Ad Agency gives its clients professional support in the creation, planning, and handling of traditional promotional campaigns in different forms (television ads, online ads, radio ads, outdoor ads, media buys, print ads, etc.).
- The Digital Agency works alongside your business to drive traffic and generate leads through your website, email, or social media. They specialize in content creation, SEO, email and social media marketing as well as website design and development.
- The PR Agency helps companies build positive relationships with the public and key stakeholders to help them achieve their business goals. They provide a wide range of services to their clients, from media relations and public affairs to crisis management and social media.
- The Video Agency is responsible for producing high-quality, compelling video content to help brands tell stories, attract more customers, increase engagement, and convert members of their target audiences.
If you think about it, video, especially short form, is the preferred asset of every ad and marketing campaign right now. As social media advertising and marketing continues to grow, think TikTok for Business, these agencies are the hot ticket.
And the hottest of the hot, not to be biased in any way … is us – Kat and Carter or K&C to their friends.
K&C is an Austin based Creative Agency.
More specifically, K&C is a female-founded, full service, creative video agency. We offer concept development, script writing, production, animation and post production on all types of video content.
We create TV commercials, corporate videos, branded content, explainer videos, social content, digital ads and more.
Flexibility is important to us, so we work directly with brands as well as partner with other agencies and creatives to bring great ideas to life.
We are proud to have worked with the following brands:
Are you ready to take the next step in working with a creative agency?
A good starting point is to reach out to 2 or 3 agencies that you like and discuss your business goals. Make sure your goals align with their capabilities and make sure that they give you a clear proposal and cost for your project.
If video’s your thing and you want to get started with K&C, we’d love to talk. GET IN TOUCH
