Agency side can be hard and fast with brutal work. So naturally, brand side looks like a shining beacon where marketers can finally "slow down" and leave work before 5pm.
But is this a tall tale?
On stage at This Way Up: Australia’s advertising festival of creativity 2022, a panel of executive marketers who over their careers have switched from agency to client side - some multiple times - unpack the misconception that brand side is easier than agency.
Dean Norbiato, Kia general manager of marketing, said: “My experience of agency, whilst it was hectic, it's nowhere near any more hectic than working on brand side,”
“I would say that a better agency person and a better marketer on client side is better if they've experienced the other arena, in my opinion.
“I think you get a special ability to understand where they're coming from, in a lot of scenarios that you may otherwise have your own personal bias about your position.
“I think the majority of the best agency people have had great brand experience, and vice versa, in terms of the perspective that you can take on situations to ultimately get to a single position that you mutually wanna benefit from, as opposed to it just being one side of the agency versus brand.
“If you can foster that environment that both parties are going for a shared goal. That's where you get the best outcome.
“I had an opportunity to take a lesser role with an agency or step up into a bigger role within my brand.
“I made the hard decision which wasn't very financially viable, or better to move to an agency because I found I was getting stale and I wanted to test myself to build a skill set with a robust background.
“So when I went back to brand, I knew I could do better.
“And in those four years I learnt so much.
“The ability and the experience in agency land I just don't think the brand side gets that skill set or that breathless.
“Setting expectations and understanding the inner workings of an agency to take to a brand lens you get to an elevated position and ultimately the work is good when you deal back with that agency.”
“The stress people get put under in an agency environment develops an incredible ability to adapt to any situation.
“I think that gets tested in an agency, whereas brand can be more on the rails and process driven.”
Susan Coghill, Tourism Australia chief marketing officer, said: “I think there's a misconception that life is easier on brand side than it is on agency side.”
“Once I made the transition over and start moving up, I started noticing that everything we see in young agency people which is a sense of dynamism, entrepreneurial spirit and creative thinking in such hard workers is that sometimes a marketer doesn’t get if they come up through a more traditional sort of brand environment which is more institutionalised.
“I think agency people are incredibly smart, and I love to stack my team with them wherever I can.”
Liam Loan-Lack, CMC Markets APAC & Canada head of marketing [maternity leave] said: “I believed it was maybe easier [to move brand side] - it's not, it's quite hard.
“And you don't have more control, if anything, you have less control and more accountability - I really mean that, especially if you're in the client side of the business.
“To my second point, in agency, you sell one way, you're selling the idea to the client.
“But on client side, I sell every single day, I'm selling to the CFO and to the CEO. In my role, I've got a regional board with a global business, so I'm selling to my global CMO.
“So it doesn't get easier and it's still about stakeholder management.
“When you're on agency, you are incentivized by output and you want to do good work in hindsight. Which means we started communicating that very complex ideas.
“So much of the frustrations that agencies have with clients is because they didn't understand that good, great output isn't stuff that gets necessarily swatched for simple work that travels around the organisation really effectively and easily. Because it's that narrative internally, you create.
“The more senior you are with a client, the more your value is to manage and align your internal stakeholders.
“Agency people have a level of resilience, which is so valuable in the work and the speed at which agency people move I love.
“Whereas, on brand side, I have to hold myself back sometimes and be more considerate, so there’s a tension.”
Anneliese Douglass, director marketing and communications for Nestle Oceania, said: “The difference I found was far more responsibility around the profit and loss statement.
“Being able to speak the language of business I think is the fundamental difference that I found in moving, which I guess is because I have been largely in fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG).
“Marketing is so broad, and therefore I don't think that it's a black or white yes or no answer to if agency or brand is better.
“I really think if you really deeply understand what your career journey is, where your skills are, then you’d know where you can add the most value.
“To me the most wonderful thing you learn at an agency is bravery and curiosity.
“And that is what agency people absolutely bring to the floor because they are not bound as much to the machine.
“That's why you need agencies to think outside of your category rules and to come up with ideas that are going to absolutely laser focus and attract that consumer.”
Have something to say on this? Share your views in the comments section below. Or if you have a news story or tip-off, drop us a line at adnews@yaffa.com.au
Sign up to the AdNews newsletter, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for breaking stories and campaigns throughout the day.