Even communications agencies need help communicating University of St. Thomas Masters of Business Communications Dan Bensman

Typical Creative Agency Scenario  Writer gives copy to designer  Designer places copy into ad  Meanwhile, client services rep hears from client – they have changes  Writer asked to revise copy, designer’s work scrapped  Accounting wonders why the project is over-budget

Creative agencies are often chaotic places to work  Always aggressive deadlines  Multiple clients & conflicting priorities  Never-ending drive for higher profitability

That’s why most creative agencies have project management staff  Project managers vital to day-to-day operations  Keep projects moving from pitch to final delivery  They “own” the workflow process

Why Do I Care About Project Managers?  As a creative agency copywriter, I work with project managers every day  Project managers, with their unique cross-departmental job functions, affect communications  I think project managers can do more to make everyone’s job easier

What Did I Want to Learn?  Where do people get their project communications?  Is information shared equally?  Are they satisfied with their project communications?  Are project managers the right people to own project communications?

Research Question Can project managers improve the perceived quality of project communications in creative agencies?

Who Was Studied?  Sample population: 130 Responses: 60 or 43%  Hanley Wood Marketing: 55  Atomic Playpen: 50  ideapark: 25

Why These Companies?  Similar in size, business model and project management strategies.  All provide marketing, communications and advertising.

How Did I Reach Them?  Accessed participants using Survey Monkey  Asked 10 questions  Survey required less than five minutes to complete

I receive the most frequent project communications from the following team members. Supervisor 14% Unsure 2% Project Manager 47% Client Services 34% Creative Lead 3%

Evaluate the following statement: “Some project team members receive more frequent communications than others.”  Nearly 90 percent of respondents indicated that some employees receive more frequent communications than others.

Evaluate the following statement: “I find communications from project managers vital to project workflow.”  55 of 58 survey participants said communications from project managers vital.

Does the frequency of communication from project managers meet your needs?  43% said frequency of communications from project managers met their needs “always” or “most of the time”  26% said their needs were met “about half of the time”  21% indicated their needs were met “occasionally”

Do you think project managers should consider project communications a core job duty? All but one survey participant (98%) said project managers should consider project communications a core job duty

Research Question  Can project managers improve the perceived quality of project communications in creative agencies? Yes

Recommendations: Information Source  47% said the most frequent project communications came from project managers, 35% identified client services.  Dividing project communications duties between positions dilutes the message.  Over 98 percent of respondents: project managers should consider project communications a core job duty.  Give communications responsibility to project managers.

Recommendations: Information Sharing  Overwhelming numbers said some are better informed than others.  One source of project communications could provide balanced distribution of information.  Give the job to project managers.

Recommendations: Satisfaction  43% said frequency of communications from project managers met their needs “always” or “most of the time.”  Project managers as “go to” communications resource could raise overall satisfaction.

Thank you