Hello, Again. Re-Introducing Traction.

hello
Monday, September 14, 2020

By Adam Kleinberg

We’re thrilled to announce that Traction has reinvented itself.

Over 19 years as a creative agency with a digital core, Traction has had the opportunity to partner with some of the world's greatest brands, collaborate with some of the industry's most talented people, do some work that we're really damned proud of, and even get some recognition for it along the way.

The industry has changed quite a bit in that time. The needs of brands have along with it. And when we took a look inward about a year ago (no, peyote was not involved), we saw that a few of our client relationships were absolutely thriving—and what they had in common was that we were working in new ways. We were an extension of their in-house team. We were meeting them where they needed us to be. We were helping them create experiences their customers love at the speed their customers live.

We were helping them get traction.

That's why we felt a new model needed to exist. Today, Traction is no longer an agency. We are a new breed of brand experience consultancy designed to help your in-house team get traction—fast.

Why marketers need traction

Marketing is in a permanent state of evolution. Mass media advertising has given way to technology-driven, one-to-one customer experiences spanning every point of contact between brands and customers. This omni-channel world has led to an explosion in the need for content across a widely diverse media landscape.

For the vast majority of marketers, there has not been a corresponding explosion in budgets. Marketers are faced with delivering more for less—faster. And time remains finite.

Meanwhile, consumers are more savvy and harder to reach than ever before. In fact, they are actively taking steps to avoid advertising. Execution matters, because producing loads of ineffective marketing that people ignore will not drive the business outcomes marketers are on the hot seat to deliver. Great brand experiences are imperative to driving those outcomes.

Let's face it. There is no time for friction. Which is why 78% of brands in a recent ANA survey are maintaining control and creating efficiency by building in-house teams. Traction exists to empower brand marketers tasked with driving sales growth who need help scaling and executing effective marketing at the speed of their customers.

Traction is an in-house agency accelerator

Our roster of over one hundred subject matter experts represents some of the greatest talent in the industry across a range of disciplines. We accelerate your in-house team's ability to execute experiences that deliver business growth in a digital first world. We quickly delve into your business, assess your strategic needs, and then assemble, manage and/or recruit the right resources and workflows to help you get traction producing the effective work you need at the quality, pace and budget you need it.

We meet you where you are

The notion that great talent only lives at agencies is antiquated. Today, that's no longer the case. But every in-house team has its own unique challenges. We meet you where you are to lend our expertise to solving your most pressing challenges.

Problems we solve

MANAGING GROWTH

As in-house teams grow, they face serious operational challenges managing projects, resources and priorities. Traction helps you get the process, planning, technology and training in place to be a smooth operator.

SCALING TEAMS

Finding the right talent is only half the battle—setting them up to thrive in your unique company culture is critical if you're going to keep them. We build, augment and enhance teams with subject matter experts that work side-by-side with your people.

CREATIVE SPARK

Today, many in-house teams have amazing talent, but the needs for strategic thinking and creativity are vast and consistent delivery of great work is a challenge. We fill the gaps in your creative capabilities to provide quality work wherever you need it.

ADAPTING TO CHANGE

Marketing is in a state of never-ending evolution. There's a lot to keep up with. We help clients keep pace with change with our roster of specialists—without paying for overhead.

How we do it

Your company is unique. So are your needs. We have completely redesigned our consultancy model to meld to the needs of brands today. Our engagements range from consulting sprints to embedded teams to project-based assignments. This is how we get it right:

The right people
We supplement our strategic, creative and technology leadership with a roster of curated subject matter experts—not relationship managers—and build embedded teams with the best talent, managed to thrive within your company's culture.

The right process
Simply put, herding cats ain't easy. Maintaining cohesiveness and collaboration across all the things a brand needs to produce is critical. Traction helps by consulting and training organizations on the talent, technology and processes needed to run internal agencies effectively.

The right insights
Effective marketing comes from understanding customers. Our approach is based on knowledge. We acquire it efficiently and make sure it is the foundation of the work we help you produce.

The right ideas
Here's the hard truth: Nobody wants your marketing. We help brands understand the customer journey and then develop and produce creative concepts and experiences that their customers actually value and desire.

The right value
Traditional agencies are bloated. Clients pay for underutilized resources, and staff is often assigned because they are available, not because they're the best qualified to do the job. Traction's consultancy model allows you to pay for world-class talent without the load factor.

The right perspective
We embrace your culture, but we don't drink your Kool-Aid. Traction remains an objective force for progress within your world.

How you benefit when you work with Traction

  • Get work done at the speed and quality you need it.
  • Subject matter experts lead your business, not relationship managers.
  • Our scalable, bespoke team model means you pay for world-class talent, not overhead.
  • We work within your world—and can even work at your office.
  • We meld to your needs and your budget—whether that is fully managed services, creative leadership, operational consulting or augmenting your team with production and design talent.
  • Two decades of experience and know-how, earned delivering award-winning creative and marketing solutions for some of the best brands in the world.
  • We're 100% transparent and are happy to teach you to fish.
  • While we're making this announcement today, we began this change back in November of 2019. It's a model that works—we've added seven clients to our roster in the first half of the year despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

What could our team's new model mean for yours? Email us at helloagain@tractionco.com and let's talk about it.

Photo by Drew Beamer on Unsplash

About the author
Adam Kleinberg

Adam Kleinberg is CEO and founding partner of Traction. He has written over 75 articles in publications like to AdAge, Adweek, Fast Company, Forbes, Mashable and Digiday.

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Traction is a new breed of marketing agency and consultancy—a marketing accelerator for brands and their in-house teams.

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