Can Chemistry Work Against You?
Good morning, AAR Partners’ Agency Member.
As part of the AAR Agency Growth Program, little lessons learned from reviews are important to share with you.
AAR Partners recently finished a review for a regional brand (client will remain nameless). By the end of the process, the client was torn and somewhat in deadlock over two of the four finalists. Both finalists were comparable in many areas: strategic smarts, creative talent, resources, insights, etc. But there was one difference: chemistry.
Finalists “A” was so similar to the client team. They were comparable in almost every way: similar values; similar beliefs; similar attitudes; culturally compatible and they were simply comfortable with each other meeting after meeting!
The other had a strong chemical connection and the teams were quite similar in their workstyles but that instant comfortable connection that kept growing over time wasn’t as substantial.
So who won? Finalist “A”, right? Wrong.
Why?
As the client said, “We want to re-invent the business and break through with innovatively creative work. We truly need an agency that will push us, challenge us and make us feel uncomfortable to help get to new levels.”
Michael John Bobak, a digital artist, is known for his quote: “All progress takes place outside the comfort zone.”
The Lesson: Chemistry is vital! It’s often the deciding factor. But when chemistry is defined as “comfort” it can and probably will work against you.
