Frequently Asked Questions
Q: CONTENTI considers itself a ‘global boutique’ B2B agency. What does that mean?
A: Our agency concept is based on the insight that many B2B clients, even the largest, don’t need a large, costly and oftentimes inefficient advertising network to meet their international marketing and communications challenges. Most global B2B projects are managed centrally then adapted to local markets. We deploy our global expertise to support the MarCom director in the delicate task of creating tools that can travel borders and maintain their impact, even after being adapted. Since we don’t need to be in all places at once, but only at the point of management, the CONTENTI team can maintain its concentrated, compact profile while addressing even the largest multi-market B2B challenges.
Q: Do you position CONTENTI as a consulting firm or a full-service agency?
A: We are an agency offering strategic and creative services. The creative process includes everything from concept to production. In some cases, prior to receiving a brief for a creative project, we design and lead positioning workshops to collect market information from the regions involved. This is a half-day or full-day event, generally at the client premises or conference centre. This gives us first-hand information that is invaluable when we start the creative process. For many clients, we play an active role in establishing the brief. We are also very active in the steps required to ensure the buy-in and enthusiasm of key stakeholders. So, although we are not a consulting firm per se, there is an important component of knowledge and experience sharing in every project we undertake.
Q: How does a specialized, boutique agency meet the global needs of a large company?
A: All of our clients, big and small, create a set of master communication tools, generally in English, that are then adapted to meet the needs of local markets. We typically work with the client’s NAM, EMEA or global marketing team to create and develop these master tools. This can be anything from a product campaign, a company brand positioning project, a new product launch or ongoing corporate or product communications. Clients rely on CONTENTI to provide proven international expertise, native English creative skills and first-class account supervision.
Q: Why does CONTENTI focus on methodology and process, in addition to creating and producing marketing deliverables?
A: Developing a marketing campaign that will not just be deployed, but be effective in global markets, is a really complex endeavor. Local buy-in and enthusiasm is required so that regional teams push the program hard in their local markets. Building acceptance for any new marketing concept can be tricky, even in the context of a single market. When multiple subsidiaries are counting on a powerful idea that can be effectively deployed in their local market, the stakes are high, with plenty of moments when the project can derail. MarCom directors are acutely aware of this and appreciate the support of an experienced, specialised team that can avoid pitfalls and deliver the project with success. Our processes allow us to set a transparent timeline so that all steps necessary to success are respected. We also find that when the groundwork is done thoroughly, the creative result benefits immensely.
Q: You state that you are located in the US, France and Sweden? What if my communications needs are outside of those markets?
A: Our team is spread across several locations. It’s one of the ways that we ensure that the tools we develop work across markets. However, all of our services are centralized and coordinated from our Paris location.
Q: Do I need to speak French to work with CONTENTI?
A: No. We are native English speakers. The fact that our headquarters is located in Paris, France is incidental to the services we provide (although it’s a great place to live!)
Q: Where are your clients located?
A: Our clients are located primarily in the US or in Europe, often with sales offices and manufacturing facilities spread around the world. Some of our clients are European subsidiaries of large, US-based companies. Others have their headquarters in Europe.
Q: How can a boutique agency handle my global communications needs?
A: The nature of B2B products and services, particularly in the high-tech, medical technology, pharmaceutical, biotech and industrial sectors, means they can benefit from a centralized marcom development process. In other words, you don’t need an expensive and inefficient agency network for global B2B communications… You need a specialized partner that centralizes global B2B experience in a single, experienced team that’s always at your service.
Q: Are you a translation company?
A: No. We are specialized in creating master communications tools that are subsequently localized to specific markets, or which remain in English if the global audience primarily interacts in English. For some of our larger clients, regional subsidiaries handle marketing localization tasks, however CONTENTI can also manage and provide local language adaptations of marcom tools, if requested.
A: Do most B2B companies translate their work for local markets?
Q: That depends on internal company organization and on the nature of the audience being addressed. For certain financial or scientifically oriented clients, we’ve used English to cover multiple markets as the audience was accustomed to working in English. But it also depends on the size and resources available in the client’s local, country-level organizations. Companies with large local subsidiaries (often with a communications function) generally take the lead in adapting the centrally developed tools to the local market. All of our materials are delivered in kit form and optimized to easily swap-out the English master text for the local language copy.
A: What if I don’t have extensive resources in local markets? Can CONTENTI help me?
B: CONTENTI creates all marcom materials for easy adaptation. All of our materials are delivered in kit form and optimized to easily swap-out the English master text with the validated local language copy. Optimization includes ensuring that all elements to be translated are on a single layer in the master Indesign file, and that no translatable elements are incorporated into image files. Once the translation has been validated, it’s relatively easy to integrate it into the Indesign file. Both translation and integration into the layout can be provided by CONTENTI if requested.
Q: Can a centrally developed concept or tool really meet the needs of different local markets?
A: It depends on how the tools are developed. CONTENTI has lots of experience in developing tools and concepts that cross borders easily. We insist on incorporating stakeholder input from the local markets into the briefing and final validation process. In addition, because our core team represents multiple languages and cultures and is dedicated to international communications, we’re good at avoiding ideas that won’t translate well into local languages and cultures, should you choose to adapt. CONTENTI offers the advantage of being culturally neutral. This is important in managing the complicated cultural dynamics inherent in building consensus within a global team—particularly when it involves something as sensitive as defining and promoting a marketing or positioning concept.
Q: Why do your clients create centralised materials? Wouldn’t it be better to let each market do their own thing?
A: Creating centralized marcom tools has a number of advantages. It prevents the duplication of effort, allowing regional marketing staff to create approved, strategic communications materials with minimal time, effort and expense. Centralizing the creation of tools ensures that every market will benefit from the same high standards in conformity with corporate guidelines. Also, monitoring what each region is creating can be a complicated and thankless task. Time would be better spent promoting rather than policing. By creating a kit of tools based on an accepted brief and validated output, guidelines and guardrails are clear from the start. Also, many B2B companies have limited local resources, devoting most of their time to building sales. They are generally very eager to receive materials that can be easily adapted to their local market.
Q: Don’t centralized communications tools prevent local markets from adhering closely to their specific market characteristics?
A: Local marketing teams have a good amount of freedom to adapt copy to reflect their local markets. No one wants a verbatim, word-for-word translation of the approved copy. The important thing is to adhere to the main themes and messages of the marketing campaign. This generally isn’t a problem as we involve central and regional stakeholders in the development process from the start.
Q: What’s typically in a communications kit?
A: A communications kit contains all master copy and master layouts required to launch a campaign or a communications tool locally. It consists of native files and high-resolution artwork and electronic files of logos and typefaces, as the case may be. It can include a selection of images that allow the regional client team to customize elements using pre-validated images (with rights secured centrally, if relevant). In addition to the files for the individual tools, the kit may contain elements such as a short graphics standards guide and a brand book to convey the spirit of a communications campaign and to promote its successful use. All files are included required to create the campaign without “reinventing the wheel” or undertaking tasks “from scratch”.
Q: If we want to include CONTENTI in an agency consultation, can you provide us with speculative creative work?
A: Our resources are always 100% dedicated and reserved for our established clients. Depending on the context and conditions, we will participate in certain paid agency consultations.
Q: How do you acquire new clients?
A: Most of our clients have been acquired by word of mouth or through people moving to new companies and choosing to work with us again. And by companies that are looking for a simpler approach to creating high-impact international B2B communications tools.
Q: What do you mean when you talk about an ‘Evergreen’ concept?
A: Many of the brands we have positioned on the market, whether they are products, services or companies, have retained their original brand positioning years after launch. The brand position thus becomes a vital part of how the brand is perceived internally and externally. It becomes a perennial part of the company’s DNA.
Q: Isn’t it bad for your business to create a brand positioning that doesn’t change for a decade or more?
A: At any rate, it’s great for our clients’ businesses! It means that together we have found a positioning that has allowed them to define their company uniquely and over time to “own the space”. So it’s very much win-win.
Q: What’s the best way to ensure the success of my international B2B marcoms challenge?
A: Our experience has shown that there are a number of important factors for success:
- For any sizable project, key stakeholders need to be involved in the creation and validation of the brief. If there are country managers that will be running the campaign in their regions, they need to participate and sign off on the brief.
- Building consensus in a multi-cultural environment requires active management. Client-side marketing directors who lead the discussion and push towards agreement have a net advantage over those who remain in the background.
- Discussion of the brief and the resulting creative directions should be discussed as a group Everyone must feel that their input has been heard and is reflected in both the finalized brief and the resulting creative output. People should feel free to voice their opinions in front of the global marketing director. In the selection process, if the director is also voting, he or she should be the last to vote. Selection should be the result of a fully transparent process.
- If you want targeted, strategic and high-impact communications, you need to start with a targeted, strategic and high-impact brief. That means not leaving questions unanswered or avoiding difficult choices. A brief that says everything says nothing at all. Few people would give an architect carte blanche to design their house. Consider the brief the master plan of the content we will create for you.
- Campaigns and concepts should be evaluated in terms of how well they embody and express the brief rather than on purely subjective criteria. That is why the brief is so important.
- There’s no substitute to having all decision-makers in the same room, particularly when an important campaign or brand positioning project is being evaluated. Problems occur when campaign concepts are simply emailed around for feedback. What you may think is saving time will probably result in increased back-and-forth and team frustration.
- For projects such as a brand launch or a new campaign or positioning, we suggest a half-day meeting consisting of key project stakeholders and two CONTENTI principals. Some of our clients plan these meetings for periods when managers will be getting together for other company business.
- If you do not have the possibility of bringing people together in the same room, a conference call should be planned with mandatory attendance of key decision-makers. A half-day should be planned for this meeting.
- Involve top management in the development process. It should be made clear that the CEO (or other) has signed off on the brief and supports the strategy it embodies.
- Marketing directors should aim not just for consensus, but for enthusiasm regarding the selected concept.
- Work with a team that understands these realities and can provide the support you need for an outstanding result.
Contact our global team
global@contenticorp.com