In particular, I found Phil Reilly’s talk to be very interesting. He started off by posing the question, “how many of you have a difficult time dealing with your creatives?” There were many hands raised throughout the room but I was not surprised to see a that none of the ten eROI account executives had a hand in the air. I am proud to say this is something that we do not struggle with as an agency. This led me to ask the question “why?” The rest of the presentation brought up so many parallels, so why does this one piece not apply to the eROI team? What I think it boils down to is our collaborative process. From the kickoff meeting to launch, all project team members are involved; concepting, strategy, creative vision, Q/A testing are all a team effort. This collaboration from the getgo eliminates surprises and keeps the entire team in the know.

I must also give credit to the creative team themselves.  I truly believe I have the pleasure of working with some of the most talented designers in the city. Their ability to take a brief and a meeting with a client and come back with a solid direction that meets every objective, and is also atheistically brilliant, is a skill that one just has to admire. There has never been an “us” versus “them” mentality across departments. We are all on the same team and advocates for both eROI and the client. This gives us the recipe for success – all the ingredients just work together.

I want to thank the Portland Ad Federation for bringing together these respected chiefs to speak to us. Many additional topics were thrown around for future sessions and deeper exploration. I found this workshop to be very valuable and will definitely be attending the next one. I will leave you with the words of Lynette Xanders “Be a cheerleader, not a policeman”- who’s with me?!

2009 PAF Rosey Awards site

I’m not so sure this site would work in most other industries as it is definitely edgy, controversial, and provocative, but I think it’s a shot in the arm that Portland needs.  The true test is to see if agencies from other cities take notice.  Then, an interesting dialog will begin.

You’ll start to see this campaign promoted more on Twitter (I love the “Rosey Smack Feed” section of the ‘Win Tix’ part of the site), Facebook, and other blogs in the upcoming months.  I’ve got to sign off from this blog post to think of some good Smack Talk myself – submit your own here >>