Why We All Should Have Creative "Tissue" Meetings

Some people have asked what is a "tissue meeting"....

I think it comes from the fact that most tissues have 3 layers and it is meant to be the one in between both ends.

In simple speak, it is an interim meeting where the agency can share half baked ideas with the client and the client can see if the agency have got the right idea from the brief before presenting fully worked up ideas. What is presented can range from a thought to a print ad to a TV script.

Other benefits include: saves time (what happens if the agency went in a direction you did not think was appropriate but you saw this weeks later?); Creates a sense of "one team; we can filter some ideas a lot earlier allowing the agency to focus, and; you can start thinking about how to land ideas with customers at an earlier stage.

We had an excellent tissue meeting with my agency yesterday and I hope that the agency felt the same way too. There were some great ideas and some not so great ideas. But, that does not matter, the point is that we had a room full of good people, keen on being transparent, honest and building upon ideas.

I would strongly encourage any client / agency team to build these sessions in to their creative process. We now have a far clearer path and have probably saved a lot of time and energy working on the wrong things.

But it does take some skill as a client and agency in these meetings:

For the client
- Be open to the thoughts from the agency
- Work with them on understanding what is the thought behind the script
- Be honest - it is ok to say you don't like it even if you can't explain why
- Provide direction - the agency is looking for it
- Provide written feedback - ideally within 1 working day

For the agency
- Be open to ideas from the client
- Provide a view on where your energies lie
- Ensure you get written feedback post meeting

I hope this helps you get to better work in a more efficient way.


KMcN
Follow me on Twitter @jossiesgiant