‘Conflict is just fear in disguise’: When is client friction good for an agency?

In a column in these pages last week, top adland creative Shayne Millington told The Drum that a good meeting’s a perfect indicator of bad or boring work. But how universal is that experience? Is true marketing creativity always birthed in the fire of tension?

Maybe not always, but a lot of the time, according to our whip round of top ad execs. Here, read about the times when a bit of friction helped things rub along better (leading in some cases to dramatic near-misses and in others to award-winning work).

Jonathan Emmins, founder, Amplify: “No one would have wished for the pandemic, but it was a friction that most definitely challenged the status quo. Stressful as it was, it forced marketers on both sides to think differently and compromise in finding new solutions in planning and production. For example, launching the PS5 when the world was in lockdown meant ripping up the rule book – instead of midnight store openings, gaming fans gathered online. So, friction isn’t failure. Friction is where the magic happens. It proves the client cares enough to push and that we’re listening closely enough to be pushed. Avoid it and you end up with a sea of sameness. It’s often in moments of friction and adversity that the strongest client–agency relationships are built and creativity is pushed further.”