What do Clients Want from Production in 2023… and Can Production Companies Provide It?
What a production company does has had to change in some fundamental ways in the past decade. With brands demanding more content than ever – far more than the good old 30-second TV spot – assets tailor made for multiple platforms and evolutions in tech and data mean brands are often looking for content that’s flexible and personalisable, and partners that are in it for more than the shoot. And while perhaps production houses can meet that need, and use craft to make content that’s truly engaging, it’s a conversation that’s not really happening.
That’s why the Little Black Book & Friends beach today brought together marketers and production companies, two parts of the industry that don’t often get the chance to talk, as well as agency production heads, to discuss what brands value from production in today’s climate.
Joining LBB’s Alex Reeves on the beach for a frank and open discussion were Ben Clark, chief production officer at Craft and McCann Worldgroup, Kai Hsiung, managing director at RSA, Pat Murphy, CEO at MCA and Steve Davies, chief executive at the APA.
The conversation began by attempting to define the expectation of clients in 2023.
“A multitude of things,” began Pat. “One of the big challenges for production houses is that they're not geared up to provide the multitude of assets that the client is expecting.”
Ben echoed Pat’s point about the increased need for assets, saying, “It's about scale for clients. They have to deliver so much content across so many platforms, and they need partners who can collaborate. They need great creative and amazing production too, I probably should have said that first! It’s a huge landscape that we need to deliver on, so it's about great partnerships and partners who can help deliver.”
On that topic of partnerships, Kai added, “When the connection to the client, agency, creative and production all works well, you get the best work.”
The topic of ‘always on’ production was a key, recurring theme of the talk. Much of this work is being handled by agencies’ in-house production capabilities or by the clients themselves. What’s more, in this era of data-driven production and personalised content, running a production company requires a suite of expertise, meaning companies – such as those making up the APA’s membership – have had to develop in recent years. Steve hears about the challenges and opportunities that production companies face trying to meet clients’ needs every day.
“Production [companies] are not really in that conversation, and they could often provide the answer,” he said. “Companies like Prodigious and Craft are in the conversation with clients, and at the moment, we aren't. We need to find a way to speak to clients and ask what they expect their production needs to be for the next year. It might be two commercials, 400 TikToks, 1000 pieces for Instagram, and a production company to make a plan that is both creative and cost efficient. But at the moment we're not in those conversations. We have to find a way to get into them.”
“Agencies are in a really privileged position because they're dealing with their clients every day,” added Pat. “At the moment, we're seeing the agency groups eating their lunch. It's tough because production houses rely on revenue from the agencies on the one hand, but on the other hand, the biggest challenge to revenue is the agencies as well, so it's a bit of a catch 22. I really think it's something that needs to be talked about more.”
“We're in a privileged position,” Ben said later on in the panel, “but clients need that support from an agency partner. When you've been working with MasterCard or L'Oreal for something like 100 years, you are the trusted partner, so we have to help our clients navigate that landscape and that's what we do. That isn't just about keeping everything in house. Of course, there are things that will be done in house, but it's about partnership. That could be with a technology platform, a broadcaster, it could be with Netflix, and it will always be with production companies.”
In line with the Little Black Book & Friends Beach’s ‘Better Together’ concept this year, collaboration and partnerships were a common theme and fix for the problems being discussed. Even with issues around sustainability and diversity, Steve and Kai told stories of being notified of certain needs from the agency or client side too late in the process, and it being too late to put them in place. More cohesive communication much earlier in the pipeline would solve such issues the panel agreed.
Kai added, “Covid-19 really helped to stop the amount of people flying but we still see suddenly 12 client and agency people turning up to a remote shoot somewhere, and that sort of thing is quite frustrating. Everyone needs to work together to try and stop things like unnecessary travel so much can be done remotely.”
In conclusion, Pat lamented the thought clients’ production needs stretch much further than the production, “Clients are looking for a partner that can manage the lifecycle of an asset from briefing all the way through the end and beyond, including the RE exploitation of the footage and assets at a later point in time. That's exactly what they're looking for, not just that little bit in between - the execution of the production.”
On the topic of collaboration, Ben concluded, “If you look at the work that we're doing, and the work that we're winning awards with in Cannes, it is with great production company partners. The role of the producer is to identify that partner and collaborate brilliantly with excellent production companies in the right place at the right time.”
