Not so long ago CHI & Partners was an ad agency with a group of related businesses specialising in disciplines such as direct marketing and media planning. But the changing nature of the advertising business made better integration an imperative.
"The first step was to merge the whole business back together and have just one creative department," says CHI's creative director, Thiago de Moraes. The agency then implemented a second phase to integrate creative more closely with other disciplines, such as account management. Executives with creative briefs were trained in client presentation, while account and project management teams were brought closer together and many traditional job titles were consigned to the bin.
Digital technology has made interaction with consumers more central to campaigns, and de Moraes says it has also changed how campaigns are planned.
"The key is to start not with the idea of making a TV ad but with creating a piece of content that is involving and engaging for the target audience."
A Carphone Warehouse/TalkTalk campaign that CHI built around ITV's The X Factor had TV sponsorship at its heart. However, related online activity – in which viewers, for example, recorded their own X Factor-like performances via a webcam – was a big part of the campaign. The viewers' videos then formed the basis for a series of TV ads made by CHI.
