One thing that bad companies have in common is their tendency to treat external partners poorly. Our goal is to always treat them like fellow colleagues. We want to be the kind of company that they can’t wait to work with again, regardless of budget, or timing, or scope of the job – just because they’ve heard we’re good people.

Prioritising good relationships with partners is committing to great execution. Depending on the idea, our partners will range from production houses, animation studios, creative technology companies, field research agencies, consumer testing agencies, and bespoke firms. It’s easy to forget: to our partners, our client isn’t the client… we are. The good part? We have a perfect frame of reference on how to treat our relationship with them. As a primer, read the ‘How we work with clients’ section & imagine those policies replicated for our partners.

Some specific guidelines:

• Do not request a meeting with a partner before having seen their work thoroughly. Begin the meeting by discussing your thoughts on their work, before jumping into the task at hand.
• Practice writing empathetic rejection mails if they aren’t being chosen for a project. Most often, partners are simply ‘informed’ that they weren’t picked. Sometimes not even. We’ve been guilty of this too.
• Spend time reading treatment notes and presentations. Do not ‘skim’ through.
• We believe scripting requires expertise & don’t expect our in-house writers to automatically excel at it. We will encourage production houses to cost for writing the final drafts with an external writer they feel is best for the project.
• Our industry is rife with idea theft. If an external partner has given an input that you’d like to use, but their company isn’t one you’re going with, get their permission before using the input. And discuss with your team lead on how you can credit their involvement.
• Handle payments with the speed & transparency you’d expect from your clients. Sometimes there are delays, technical challenges or bank holidays. But if situations like these arise, our partners are notified proactively and paperwork is maintained to ensure any processes are not mismanaged.
• We are very generous with credit sharing. Always, always credit and celebrate your partners in the press & your personal promotions once the project releases.

https://twitter.com/PGAditiya/status/1540952083498602496

Talented Handbook