Collaboration in Agency Networks: The Case of Affinità
This article is the first of a series on agencies and their challenges. More to follow soon
I had the pleasure to speak with Hervé Kabla, founder of the Parisian agency Be Angels and the Affinita agency network. We discussed the changing landscape in the agencies world and his experience shaping a network across companies to encourage collaboration over competition.
Hervé is an unusual character for the industry. With a background in software engineering and no previous experience in agencies, he started Be Angels in 2008 having a strong feeling that social media would become essential for brands.
Two years went by as he explored the market and shaped the idea, eventually realizing that he was building a communication agency specialised in a certain channel. From that point onwards, Be Angels successfully rode the wave of the market, growing by 40–45% each year.
By 2014, the market had developed considerably and Be Angels was competing with agencies covering numerous languages and geographies. It became clear that further growth would require expanding beyond operating solely in French language. They explored the opportunity of opening a subsidiary company in another country but no one at Be Angels had the experience and the background for such a task, that would reveal to be a financial nightmare sooner or later. Next, they considered acquiring smaller agencies, but the shareholding structure made that unviable too.
Refusing to give up on the project, they looked for a third option. While exploring opportunities, it became clear that other companies abroad had also experienced the language barrier, and the idea of a network started to take shape. Between November 2016 and February 2017, they made a lot of meetings, often rushing between planes from 4:00 am until midnight, and eventually selecting ten partner agencies across seven countries.
They invited everyone to meet each other and together spent two days crafting a common vision out of different DNAs and cultures. However, the newly formed group didn’t stop there. By the end of the 2 days, they had created a road-map with individual responsibilities, where everyone had to show their commitment to the new project.
As with any networked organisation, managing the complexity of the relationships was particularly important, in Hervé’s words: “If I ask them to put strong rules and frameworks from the beginning, some might walk away”. Instead, to start Affinità, they made sure the agencies selected could understand the idea that “we are all strong as individuals, but we could be stronger together” and that “we are stronger if we give, not when we take”. Values alignment was the fundamental ingredient to kick-start the project.
However, values alone can be forgotten over time. To endure, values must be coherent with a strategy grounded on the business reality. Hervé puts it this way:
“The agency business is one where you can have one of two attitudes: either tell your customer you can do everything they need / want (the traditional way), or accept to recognize your weaknesses and tell her you can only answer global needs in group. Such groups can be created locally (e.g.: I don’t have PR or SEO skills, I team up with companies that clearly have these skills) or globally. More than this, global answers can address local needs (e.g.: SEO skills coming from a foreign country) or global needs (e.g.: localization).
Having specialized partners, by industry or channel, can be very interesting to address these same channels locally. For example, Be Angels has a strong experience with insurance companies and can help its partners developing the same industries in their country.”
When a market is rapidly expanding, collaboration is relatively easy. However, as a market starts to consolidate or shrink, previous collaborators can turn on each other and fight to retain market share. I asked Hervé, how he imagined agencies would have to respond to the new situation and what they were doing to differentiate themselves:
“Due to the digital transformation that everyone talks about, the environment where agencies used to operate is now targeted by 4 kinds of companies: first, traditional agencies that try to be more digital; secondly, consulting firms like Accenture or McKinsey; third IT development & consulting companies; and fourth, start-ups. All of them have a particular vision of the digital transformation. But they address the same customers and the same budgets. There is no more blue ocean…
Like the IT industry in France in the 2000–2006 period, the agency business is going to consolidate itself, and only large and solid organizations or networks have a chance to survive.
Agencies and consultancies tend to address the same market needs, but with different approaches. The winner will be these companies able to have both skills (strategy and creativity) in portfolio. However, it’s quite difficult to keep these very different profiles in the same organization.
To differentiate from other agencies, we have insisted on different cultural differences between Be Angels and our competitors, here are some of them:
- A mix of B2B and B2C. As an employee at Be Angels, you can work on very different projects, you’re not specialized with specific sectors or industries.
- Employee empowerment: Be Angels has been created by people that have spent 15 years in large organizations, places where employees had no opportunity to take decisions. Hervé personally insist to have most people involved in every company decisions, ranging from the logo color to more strategic decisions. This is not something that French people are used to, and it often creates questions or anxiety.
- A great place to work: Be Angels has been selected among 2016 best places to work in France, in the 10 to 50 employees group.”
Be Angels and Affinità have encountered their own share of difficulties, yet, in their own words, the network has been “a very positive experience” and they intend to expand to the US and Asia within the next four to six months. They show that with the right approach, collaboration remains not only possible but fruitful, even in turbulent environments.
I leave you with a last quote from our conversation that showcases the approach:
“The real fun is discovering the way, new ways to do business”
