Agency
Multi-agency mastery
CLAUDIA STEPHENSON, MANAGING DIRECTOR EMEA OF BRANDING AGENCY INVNT, EXPLAINS HOW TO COLLABORATE WITHOUT CHAOS ON HIGH-STAKES PROJECTS
S ome of the most ambitious
global projects can require four, five, even six specialist partners – each bringing world-class expertise to creative, production, logistics, comms, or data. To fully succeed in collaboration we need to think about interdependence. For me, that is knowing when to lead, when to support and when to simply listen. In recent projects, our teams have orchestrated multi-agency ecosystems for Lamborghini, PepsiCo, Hitachi Vantara, Wyse, and Xero, learning that professional respect and role clarity are fundamental to successful delivery.
The question is, how do we truly work in this interdependent way when egos often want dominance?
Client sets the North Star Every multi-agency project starts with the client team owning the vision. They will define the absolute business objective, sign off the final budget and strategy, and establish the playbook from which all partners must work. From there, they designate a lead agency or project manager accountable to them, they will become the guardian of master documents, budgets, brand consistency, and client communications.
Following this, specialist agencies might then slot into precise lanes: one owns creative storytelling, another production timelines, a third logistics execution. A shared scope matrix, agreed before kick off, will spell out every responsibility, eliminating blurred lines and ego-driven overlaps.
Traffic lights and tight check-ins True collaboration thrives on clarity and
structure, and there are multiple ways to ensure this happens. For example, weekly syncs with one project manager per agency and not sprawling full-team meetings that waste time, and of course, money. Each task owns a traffic light status: green( on track), orange( attention needed), red( immediate action). Simplified practices like this ensures that issues surface quickly, get triaged by the lead, and resolved without silos.
This system powered our Hitachi Vantara NVIDIA GTC activation, where INVNT partnered with local production experts and digital specialists. Clear R & R’ s upfront meant 904 booth scans, 85,000 + social views, and a cultural hub that felt seamless – because everyone knew their lane.
Of course, tensions will surface. But it is how you plan and navigate these moments that really matters. For example, during initial kick offs, pre-agreed conflict rules can be established. This may look like escalating conflicts to the lead agency first and the client second to ensure there is no public blame. We need to look at overlapping expertise as a super power rather than competition. All agencies in the mix should be using these collaborative opportunities to share expertise and in turn learn themselves. Creative might concept, production refines feasibility, data measures impact. Each elevates the whole.“ To fully succeed in collaboration we need to think about interdependence”
Post-momentum, not post-mortem Things go wrong, no matter how much planning goes into a project, moments of error can often only be reduced, not completely removed. And, no one wants these mishaps to be associated with them. So, instead of blame-focused debriefs, a more constructive postmomentum session could work instead. Ask what drove excellence? and what could elevate next time?
Feedback should target deliverables and never individuals.
Global consistency, local brilliance Very rarely can one single agency master everything, logistics in Barcelona require different mastery than data in Dubai. Specialist partners ensure excellence everywhere.
As event professionals we need to ditch the hero complex. Success metrics need to shift from“ my agency won” to“ project delivered.” n
n Visit: https:// invntemea. com /
ISSUE 143 / CONFERENCE & MEETINGS WORLD / 23