For Tim Frank, owner of Triple Threat Communications (TTC), working with clients is as rewarding as reaching their brand goals. As he climbed up the ranks at a large network agency, Frank found himself increasingly tied up with agency demands and moving away from direct day-to-day work with clients and their brands. Frank recognized that big network agencies were built around the needs of the agency, and not their clients’ needs. That is why, more than 16 years ago, he started a different type of ad agency — one with the flexibility to allow him to give his clients his undivided attention, and to be a part of the entire journey.
In the final video of a three-part series, TTC team members highlight why unlimited flexibility helps make TTC “the unagency.” The first video delves into TTC team members’ unrivaled experience and the second illuminates their undivided contact with clients as additional points of differentiation for the unagency.
The importance of flexibility at TTC
Big network agencies can be unwieldy. With many layers of command, jobs can get bogged down by inflexible processes. With TTC’s streamlined organizational structure, which features fewer layers of command, team members at all levels work directly with clients on a day-to-day basis from the beginning to the end of a project.
Everyone works together, provides input, and problem-solves toward a common goal of what’s best for the client. There is no one-size-fits-all approach, so no one is simply following a cookie-cutter process.
Team members have the flexibility and autonomy to experiment with creative solutions, pivot away from old ideas and embrace new ones with confidence. This is especially important as industry needs continue to evolve at a rapid pace. TTC is constantly adjusting its priorities in service of its clients and their changing needs. Something that seemed important at the beginning of the day may later have to be set aside. TTC has the capacity to change direction without hesitation, get things done quickly and still deliver uncompromised quality.
How TTC is flexible
TTC has operated with full virtual capabilities from its inception, ensuring that the best people are in place, regardless of where they work from. By hiring the most qualified, talented and dedicated people from virtually anywhere in the world — and using the latest technology to stay connected — TTC provides top-level solutions. And this hybrid approach has made it more collaborative and efficient in the process.
Unlike at a bigger agency, where the structure can become rigid and people can get slotted into restrictive roles, team members at TTC wear many different hats. Everyone is willing to go above and beyond, and no one is worried about stepping on each other’s toes. TTC team members pitch in and work together to do whatever is needed for their clients. Everyone is always learning and adjusting. If necessary, team members are willing to throw the entire process out the window to think differently and unearth new solutions.
The benefit to clients
Flexibility has been an integral part of the culture at TTC. Team members have the capability to respond in the moment to address any obstacle or opportunity. Working as a team, they are able to proactively provide solutions as brand and market needs change. Being flexible is critical to client relationships and to the unagency’s success. It allows TTC to ultimately meet clients’ needs faster, cheaper and better. It also makes for a much more effective, creative and enjoyable client-agency relationship. This is truly what TTC is all about.
Note: MM+M vodcasts use speech-recognition software to generate transcripts, which may contain errors. Please use the transcript as a tool but check the corresponding audio before quoting the podcast.
Read the full episode transcript here
[00:16]
Flexibility is about not getting bogged down by process having the creative endurance it not to dig into an old idea find a creative solution because everything is always moving and you have to stay on top of that you have to be nimble and you have to be able to iterate along the way I’m constantly adjusting priorities. So there might be something that seems important at the beginning of the day and there are things come up that you have to change your priorities and you have to get things done quicker and when that happens. There’s no hesitation. We just do it. We have that capacity where we were to pull it together and so put it out without compromising the quality.
[00:54]
Think the bigger you get as an agency the more rigid you can become I never want to be stuck. I always want to be learning creativity is an on-demand skill and I think we’re always on we need to be able to adjust and say you know what we kind of have to maybe throw process out the window for just a moment to change as you need to think differently think outside of the box a good idea can come from anywhere so it’s being open and receptive a lot of people wear a lot of different hats. I don’t think there’s ever a thought at ttc. Well. That’s not my job. That should be this person over here and that department we just don’t work that way because our interest is not about stepping on each. Other’s toes everyone is always going to work and work together so we all just do what we need to do to get the job done.
[01:42]
Flexibility is what makes triple threat triple threat we have flexible towards our client.
[01:50]
S and I think that’s a benefit for the clients and it also helps us all work together really well to quickly address any situation or any opportunity. We look at the whole situation and I think clients really appreciate that instead of pushing back and talking to them about how impossible it is we’re gonna roll up our sleeves and figure out the best plan forward together and ultimately need their needs more quickly more cheaply and more effectively we can really solve problems when they need it. So it means a more enjoyable client agency relationship and their needs always come first.
