How to Maximize Your Wine Brand’s Relationship With a Creative Agency

The truth is, it’s entirely possible to not only make a relationship with a creative agency work well, but thrive also. Your wine brand can end up with a stellar product — on time and on budget, no less — when you find the right creative partner.

But to do it takes proper preparation, straightforward communication, and a healthy dose of trusting in your agency’s expertise.

So how do you choose the perfect partner? What should you ask before beginning your first project collaboration? How do you make the right people accountable? Keep reading.

Any successful relationship starts with trust. For you, it takes trusting in the expertise your creative partner will bring to the project, and that they will guide you to the most effective strategies. For your creative partner, they need your trust to guide you through the process.

But it’s tough to build trust when you don’t have a full understanding of the team you’re working with or good communication from the get-go.

After team member introductions, be sure to highlight particular skills and talents from your team members that will be extra valuable assets during the development process. Dive in a little deeper about who they are and what they do. This way, everyone appreciates their role and what they are bringing to the project.

If it’s one thing your creative partner should welcome from you, it’s your questions. More often than not we all learn something new, come up with better ideas, or head off a snafu at the pass when you ask questions.

If you’re ever unsure about anything, ask about it. If you think your question is dumb, ask anyway. (Hint: It’s not.)

You should expect your creative partner to have plenty of questions, too, like:

• When do you need to have all your packaging components in hand?

• Do you have any key releases or other events coming up?

• Are there dates when your key team members are not available (vacation, winery event, business travel, etc.)?

• Do you anticipate adding to your team during the project timeframe?

• Who do you partner with for compliance?

• Does your legal counsel have particular thoughts on ADA Compliance?

Every wine brand is different, and every project is different. As you have more conversations with your creative team, you’ll start thinking of more questions, and so will they. Making room for candid conversations and questions will ensure your relationship is off to a great start.

If you have experienced a project that went off-course, the blame could most likely culminate into one thing: Assumptions. And there is no room for assumptions during the course of any creative project.

To steer clear of landing your project where you don’t want it to be, you and your creative team should spend time going through responsibilities of teams and talent — who is covering what, when they are expected to deliver something, and who else needs to be involved, for example.

Lean on your agency partner to get a sense of the timing for generating written content or receiving photos from a photographer. This will help you set realistic expectations and deadlines with your team. You can also ask your team the following questions to get the ball rolling on responsibilities:

• Do you plan on working with the photographer you have worked with in the past? Are you already on their schedule?

• Do you plan on working with a copywriter or copy editor?

• Where are there areas of opportunity with the existing team? For example, do you already have a talented photographer or copywriter?

• Where are there talent holes that may need to be addressed?

If your initial timeline turns out to be unrealistic, connect with your creative partner to talk through it, because there may be implications not only to the timeline but other elements as well. For example, you may have to end up paying a vendor more to rush an order. Or, to pay for air-freight if ocean or ground will not get it to you in time.

It seems obvious that regular check-ins with your creative partner would be beneficial. But sometimes the simplest habits can turn out to reap the biggest rewards.

You know how fast time flies. Business days turn into weeks, and before you know it you’ve lost where everything stands and the project is slipping through your hands. That’s why prioritizing regular check-ins with your creative partner is a must.

At Offset, we set up weekly check-ins for all large-scale projects, and with any clients who have multiple small projects in the works.

Our standing chats help everyone prioritize their duties and stay informed on the various stages of the project workflow. Plus, they’re great at minimizing when molehills turn into mountains and when unwelcome timing and or budget changes pop up.

If you’re worried about adding another meeting to your plate, don’t be. These routine conversations can take as little as 15 minutes. Of course, more in-depth conversations will require more time and perhaps more frequency. But the investment your team will make in carving out time for these check-ins will be returned in the form of an on-budget, on-time, transformative end product — and a better overall experience.

Between your team and your creative partner’s, each team is dependent on the other for the best possible outcome: Your wine brand’s ideal ROI achieved.

This means knowing the fabric of your team, and communicating your needs, and getting the right help, early and often throughout the process.

For example, if your team doesn’t have the bandwidth necessary for certain aspects of the project, your creative partner likely has recommendations for additional help. Or it could be as simple as sending an email to a primary member of your creative agency asking for guidance on how to get things moving. Finally, if your team needs assistance staying on task and seeing the project from start to finish, an outside project manager would be a wise investment.

And here’s the thing a lot of wine brands don’t know, or sometimes forget: While your creative partner may manage aspects within their scope of work, your project’s needs may go well beyond that.

Take packaging projects, for example. Your team will need to manage orders for various components (glass, corks, capsules, labels, corrugated boxes, etc.) from multiple vendors all the while coordinating for a bottling schedule. That’s a lot to keep track of. If your team doesn’t have the bandwidth to manage all those moving parts, an external project manager will be your best friend.

As your wine brand looks for the right creative agency for your next project, remember what’s possible when communication and trust are in harmony. We’re ready to get started when you are.