To get high-quality, on-brand output from AI, teams must invest more time in the initial strategic phase. This means creating highly precise creative briefs with clear insights and target audience definitions. AI scales execution, but human strategy must guide it to avoid generic, off-brand results.

Tim Hortons' CMO credits her time at an agency for teaching her how to be an effective client. By experiencing firsthand the impact of clear (or unclear) briefs and direction, she learned how to partner effectively with creative teams once she moved to the brand side.

To get high-performing assets, move beyond simple messaging points in your briefs. Get 'maniacal' with details: specify lighting, shooting style, and even how to engage with the brand's posts. Reference the influencer's own past successful content as a 'North Star' to guide their creative freedom within your brand's guardrails.

Paying an agency just to brainstorm ideas in slide decks is inefficient and disconnected from modern marketing needs. To be effective, agencies must integrate creative ideation with in-house production capabilities to execute at the volume and speed required by digital channels.

The goal of an agency partnership should extend beyond task execution. A key qualifying question to ask is, "What will you teach me along the way?" A great partner aims to leave the client more knowledgeable and capable, empowering them to make better marketing decisions independently in the future.

Transform a creative department from a production house into a strategic partner by changing how you brief them. Instead of giving prescriptive directives, present the business problem that needs to be solved. This empowers creative minds to contribute to strategy and deliver more impactful solutions, not just executions.

The traditional client service model is flawed because it forces ambitious creatives to seek approval from clients who often have lower creative standards and care less about the outcome. This dynamic inherently limits the potential of the work.

The most effective client-agency partnerships are not the easiest, but the most honest. They are characterized by clarity, mutual trust, and a willingness to have frank conversations. This directness, rather than constant agreement, is what leads to breakthrough creative work.

In today's fast-paced environment, paying an agency to simply generate ideas and presentations is inefficient. Brands must move to an integrated production model where ideas and creation happen simultaneously and at scale.