How much time have we diarised this week as ‘time to think’? One of the big advantages of being freelance is having the time and space to do just that. From my chats with fellow rogue consultants and creatives, many of us have got to self-employed status by arriving at an agency management position, only to realise the good stuff that got us there – a love for and skills in client consultancy – mostly evaporated in favour of ‘internal issues’. It suits some and not others. A reasonable % head for the self-employed hills, looking to regain the ability to be focused on client work. As a freelancer, we are paid for our time to apply ourselves wholeheartedly to the client problem and deliver answers. The time to think.
But, surely, so are agencies? I can only offer perspective as someone that now dips in and out of agency life, seeing snapshots of how projects, resource and timelines come together. I’ll venture this purely as opinion: not enough time these days goes in to doing the thinking. The bit that clients hire an agency for.
Strategic and creative briefs need time to fester, be broken down and then re-built based on research, analysis, insight, fact and yes, even a little instinct. So much of it is about filtering and letting things bubble and brew over time. It takes a head time to absorb and process by building a bit, walking away, building a bit more and walking away. Until a defendable and clear idea emerges which is engaging, true (or potentially true) to a brand and can be supported.
Agencies are full of smart people who can think on their feet and produce fantastic results at 11:59. We’ve all seen it done and been part of it. These days, the constant need to be in a meeting or on a call fills the diaries of juniors and seniors alike. Meetings tend not to solve briefs, but rather talk about them and plan the who and how. There’s also the overriding (and often detrimental) view that ‘response’ needs to be instant. This sits uncomfortably with the strategy process, which always benefits from time and thought.
Do we value time to think enough?
