David Ogilvy once said, “Clients get the advertising they deserve.” And while we do believe that if you want great work from your agency you must also be a great client, we also consider it a mutual responsibility to bring out the very best in each other. Getting to this kind of collaboration where iron sharpens iron, doesn’t always come easy. In fact, there are a few key guiding principles that exist in all our most treasured client partnerships.

1. You believe in the power of your brand.

Sure you’ve got your product in the right place, at the right price, at the right time, but you know there’s a special kind of magic that happens beyond the perfect marketing mix. You see your brand far beyond a set of guidelines. It’s your greatest business investment and most powerful strategic tool.

2. We commit to knowing your business better.

Whether you selling fireplace accessories or craft tequila, there’s nothing we enjoy more than learning about your business up close and personal. We’ve toured toilet recycling factories and test-driven tires in rattlesnake infested waters because we see no substitute for getting our hands and eyes directly on whatever it is that makes your company distinct.

3. You continue to raise the bar.

Around here, we say that we’re only as good as the work we’ll do tomorrow. So, while we love a client who can toast to wins big and small, we measure our best clients by the size of their greatest ambitions. So go ahead, bring on the performance reviews and please hold us to the highest ROI metrics. We consider steep standards, the greatest form of flattery.

4. We’ll never get complacent.

Taking chances is written into our company values. So we vow to be brave, present ideas that are at least a little scary, and engage in tough conversations all in the name of fighting mediocrity. Because the world needs a whole lot less samness, and we’d rather be wrong, than be boring.

5. You make tough decisions objectively.

We get it, making marketing decisions can be notoriously difficult especially if you’re in a large company with heavy layers of management. That’s why you inspire respect for the Brief, making sure your organization makes objective decisions that aren’t influenced by irrelevant factors. You fight for work without compromise and you aren’t afraid to rock the boat if it means doing work that can’t be ignored by your audience.

6. We listen harder.

We know agencies come with baggage. We’re sensitive souls, pouring our lives into scheming up brave ideas so it can be demoralizing to have our dreams come crashing down. But, we’re committed to being a partner you can be brutally honest with, even if that means it’s back to the drawing board. Because we see challenging feedback as a gift and failure as part of the process. Without either, improvement never happens.

7. You promise to get comfortable with the uncomfortable.

Whether your business is B2B or B2C, you never let logic kill creativity. You know that not everything that can be measured matters and that sometimes human intuition beats beats data-driven marketing. You’re looking to reinvent your category, make some noise in your industry and you recognize that getting outside your comfort zone is the only way to be sure you won’t blend in with your competitors.

8. We ground our ideas in truth.

Creativity is our life blood and we can’t say we don’t love the feeling of winning a coveted industry award or two. But what really makes our heart beat is when we connect our ideas to a strategy that’s rooted in truth. It’s only then, that we can create work that adds value to people’s lives.

9. You take having fun pretty darn seriously.

You believe people who genuinely enjoy each other, do better work together, so you value levity and you laugh a lot. In fact, you make it your mission to create an environment where creative people can be adventurous and inject a healthy amount of play into the work.

10. We think having you as a client, makes us pretty darn lucky.

When we find a good client, we go out of our way to hold on to them. We’ve had some long-standing relationships that run more than 30 years back. We think an attitude of gratitude not only keeps us feeling inspired but also reminds us just how lucky we are are to call this thing called advertising our profession.