Box 2.0 2nd attachment

A new
model agency
for a new
marketing age

Agency models A NEW MODEL AGENCY FOR A NEW MARKETING AGE
must change
Today’s agencies should be models of efficiency and effectiveness. Efficiency means
removing the layers of bureaucracy and multiple sign-offs that still characterise too
many creative agencies. Breaking down the ‘walls’ that persist between clients and
their creative partners. And effectiveness means less room for hunches or guess work,
when the available insight has exponentially increased and the opportunity to stand on
the shoulders of what’s gone before is much improved.
Increasingly, those agencies should be championing an approach to marketing that
is less reliant on broadcast communication and speculative attempts at customer
acquisition. This should be replaced by a more data-driven approach, targeting
individuals or cohorts based on real behavioural insight. It should prioritise customer
retention and upsell. It should optimise every stage of the customer journey. It should
embrace new channels, with online video a key aspect of the mix. It should feel more
personal, more local, better tuned to the rhythm of our customer’s lives. It should test
and learn, creating a virtuous circle of continuous improvement.
This demands that today’s agencies must be models of agility. They should start from
data, real-time where possible. They should be able to interpret this data, turn it into
insight and use it to tackle client’s challenges in smart, channel-neutral ways.
This demands a breadth of talent, but in financial services, must index highly in
digital skills, especially mobile and online video.

We are A NEW MODEL AGENCY FOR A NEW MARKETING AGE
pioneering
this model The&Partnership is leading the development of
such new models. Pulse, the dedicated creative
agency we have developed for News UK, is a good
example of what can be done with a bespoke
team, situated within the client’s HQ. It’s a model
we’ve replicated for the Wall Street Journal in New
York and for TELUS, Canada’s leading quad-play
provider. TELUS offers a particularly instructive
parallel when thinking about RBS / NatWest and
the need for a presence in both Gogarburn and
London. Our TELUS agency has Toronto as its
centre of gravity, but also a twin office in the
French-speaking Montreal.

We’ve already A NEW MODEL AGENCY FOR A NEW MARKETING AGE
begun this
journey The Box is another example of a dedicated unit,
with you designed to improve marketing agility. Today it is
a fast turnaround creative production unit with
responsibility for in-branch point-of-sale, literature
and merchandising. It also handles Personal
Banking customer comms and emails (both
mandatory and discretionary) and manages assets
through its own CMD platform, provided by TAG.
The Box has strong foundations, but now our
collective opportunity is to turn it into a Box 2.0

THE BOX A NEW MODEL AGENCY FOR A NEW MARKETING AGE
2.0
You’ve already visited one of these (Pulse), and seen the potential of a state-of-the-art, agile-marketing
agency, first hand. By that we mean a multi-disciplined team, based on-site, which marries strong data
analytics capabilities to excellent social content and online video production, distributed via the
possibilities of programmatic targeting to develop smarter, more fluid, marketing plans.

We appreciate the time you have spent with us; based on those conversations, we saw each of you gravitate
to different aspects of the proposition. David, you were interested in the more agile culture that you saw as an
extension of what you’re trying to achieve within your marketing department. Paul, you emphasised the need to
do smarter regional or local communication, targeting tighter cohorts with discrete messaging. And Mei,
you highlighted CSR opportunities like MoneySense and the parallels with the work we do with the TELUS
‘Give Where You Live’ initiative in Canada.

Box 2.0 must retain the strengths of today’s Box, but build on them. It should deliver even greater efficiency
than it does currently, and dovetail with the work you do with M&C and Lida to set the strategic and creative
direction of the brands. With full-time data analysts embedded on site, it can help effect the shift from
programmatic media to programmatic marketing – extracting deep insight from online behavior to build
and target micro-segments with bespoke creative and messaging (like the sailing audience for Coutts…).
Its production facilities will also enable the cost-effective creation of online video, ensuring we’re fully
utilising this burgeoning channel.

Beyond this, Box 2.0 can enhance your ability to make full use of tools like PEGA to model customer journeys
and design communication around real customer behaviour. This can play a role in the optimisation of key
experiences: for example, account opening and the onboarding journey for new-to-bank customers; the credit
card, savings and mortgages cross-sell journey for current account (main-banked) customers.

A NEW MODEL AGENCY FOR A NEW MARKETING AGE

Crucial to the success of this agency is its location. It has to be a literal extension of the RBS marketing
department, and as such, should ideally be based on-site, in Gogarburn, with a presence in London too.
The closer we are to your team the better.
The journey from the Box today to Box 2.0 needn’t be a long one. Since 2009 we have set-up multiple
Boxes in the UK and North America and have typically set these up in around 90 days.

Implementation Launched within 90 Launched within 60 Launched within 60 Launched within 90 Launched within 90
plan days with 48 staff, days with 72 staff, days with 24 staff in days with 20 staff in 3 days with 55 staff
consolidating assets including transfer of 3 locations - Toronto, locations - New York, in their Minneapolis
from 7 agencies. 8 client studio staff. Vancouver & Montreal.
London & Tokyo. headquaters.

We have extensive skills in terms of recruiting and managing the best talent for these roles. We know the
talent that thrives in the fast-paced environment and enjoys the opportunities that being close to a marketing
department creates.

We would appoint a project leader whose only role is to ensure a successful set-up of the Box 2.0

ROAD-MAP TO BOX 2.0 (90 day set-up)

IMMERSION BUILD LAUNCH

• Familiarisation of the detail • Talent - appointing key • Internal presentations
within the scope. individuals and immersing to introduce Box 2.0
themselves in the brands
• Meet with all key and objectives of the • Excite the teams with the
stakeholders to understand new unit. new potential and start
governance in order to build training in processes
a new dynamic process • Technology - installing and technology.
without short-cutting technology and defining
regulatory challenges. architecture/workflows for
the marketing department.

• Infrastructure - work with
facilities to ensure effective
creative working space.