all right first i would like to thanks awwwards for this opportunity, for this great event today,
and all of you who's actually there if we were not there there was me no conference so thank you.
all right konnichiwa, hello i'm frederick i'm well he actually said it i'm creative director
at locomotive, which i founded with my good friend jean francois just here back in 2006. hello guys
i'm john francois i'm one of the co-founder in vp operation, i'm happy to work every day with
talented individuals who are passionate about design digital and communication, so for us for
those who don't know about locomotive we've prepared a quick reel about our last work of
the last year, and actually a bit of who we are, let's roll, think i'm going up i might do too much
all right we're locomotive, together with our superstar team of less than 25 employees we do
real business in the digital era as we grow and take on more and more exciting projects, we have
an authentic vision and perspective working with real company real challenge and bringing them
solutions through web design and digital strategy. last year at the awwwarda conference in amsterdam,
we have the pleasure of showing you uh our agency culture and process, this year we're excited
to discuss our reality and future as a small digital agency in a fickle era, where people
move on faster than you can swipe left on the dating app. we'll share honest grounded business
advice and solution from our experience including facing real problem in our vision of the future,
well let's be clear we don't have all the answers - since we started locomotive we've been working
hard learning creating and figuring out a lot of things on the fl,y by doing our homework and just
taking the lead the trend the tremendous honor of being here with you today is a reminder that we've
done some things well and that we're proud of. but we've also made our share of mistake after all who
hasn't. i haven't, just joking i make ton of them. but seriously every day we face new challenges
some of the same issue that you might also be grappling with so today is a great opportunity
for all of us to look at this question thank you for coming it means a lot to us it really does
thank you we realized that some of what we have to say might not fit in everybody's way of thinking
here in japan we're outsider and we appreciate the culture and we respect the way you do things
so if something resonates for you that's great if not that's okay too look we're a couple of french
canadian who listens to our guts and since the beginning decided that for us success means more
than profit or fame for us success has always been about the long-term value of the people we
work with and what they bring to the table we're talking about our clients but our colleagues too
because relationships are worth a lot just ask anyone who's ever tried online dating app it's
not always all shiny and bright right jeff that's right we're both happily married so
our swiping days are thankfully over yes but that wasn't always the case
okay now with that we've got that straightener now let's go to the real real talk we'll talk today
about three lessons first we're gonna let you know about how we locomotive find our fit with clients
and colleagues second we'll give you some insights on how we do great work with limited resources
and third what's next let's explore the unsolved mystery of how we can all build this lasting
groundwork for the future of our industry all right take it away jean francois merciful that's
a definite swipe right for me so let's get right into it and talk about finding your fit here we go
finding the right fit with client has always been important to us we love to work with
other remarkable organizations who share our way of thinking like the old saying goes it
takes two to tango finding your fit is about both party what is the client is looking for
what is the agency is looking for that both side did their own work before the first date
so how do you find the right fit with clients there we say an exceptional fit
let's clarify precisely what we mean by fit for us fit has three elements the creative fit what's
the vision of the project does this match our creative style the human fit how do you value
the relationship how do you protect your team from the crazy clients and finally the business
fit are we doing it for the money are we doing it for the visibility is it for a great cause
that being said here's how we found our fit one of the biggest part is one tiny word no what really
no yeah you're gonna learn to say no freddie not always but if it doesn't resonate better not to
take it on and only go as often as possible with project that's fit when you say yes to a client
who doesn't fit you're missing clients who fit by default learn to say no to the wrong one so
you can say yes to the right one don't compromise be honest and true to yourself that's where the
blind trust comes in and having the guts to say no to project when when something isn't clicking
and you have to do it without knowing what else might be coming your way it is scary to turn down
project you really have to believe in your team in your efforts so far and in your vision and values
you have to trust without any proof that good project will come and guess what they usually do
i believe in karma the point is whether the answer is yes or no we say it with courage and awareness
now this doesn't mean we run around emoting all day it just means we care deeply about how
we and our employees feel about a project which we humbly believe is one of the things
that makes our work stand out win awards and earn the honor of being here with you today
you can see there's a duality here in terms of business approach we work with both emotion
and logic feelings and fact instinct in data trust and caution the cool thing
the cool thing is if you approach this core idea of having the courage to say no
from an emotional or mathematical point of view you get the same exact answer
nobody especially a small agency has unlimited time and energy to do everything under the sun
part of the find your fit concept is yours is use your time wisely and to trot out on the old
dating app comparison again just don't go out with the all with the wrong person just to fail your
saturday night then you'll be booked when the good one call that's true good advice so to to sum up
basically uh when you you have to choose clients projects employee anything really the fit has to
be three-way creative human and business and learn to say no is really the way to go for us
so that's what we do we don't always look at statistics sometimes it's just more of a feeling
i personally think that many agencies into big data right now are starting to forget
the emotional side of of decision making and when we use emotion energy and certainly art
after all we all must pretty much do design here always serves a logical purpose so don't forget
decision should always be taken with both emotion and logic in mind to get the perfect
match so emotion plus logic equals it's a match all right now just like einstein and adele here
you find their match happy let's say that you found your fit
that you have the client in the shop what's next you have to do a project together how you take
that client that scenario that budget and turn it into a successful project which brings us to
the second lesson from the trench of the small digital agency world how to do more with less
more true every year the fifth is the initial desire to work together it doesn't guarantee
a successful project once you match what happens next well the reality of a small agency
we've learned to make the most of our resources and do amazing things with less we're going to
bring you into some highlights of our process to show you how we do more with limited resource as
a small team sharing some insight of what works and what actually means improvement
here are some of our tricks to do more with less communicate better sounds easy talk to the human
not the machine don't be scared to talk to the client call them show your face a conversation
or even a meeting we've learned that it's so important to prioritize direct human contact
and we encourage all our employees to do the same collaborate get the clients involved in
the process i mean really start by doing work session and learn what they want in
a respectful way we often say that we have half of the answer and the client owns the other half
i don't know what they need they actually know what they need and our job is to poke around and
get the truth about to learn about their process and business you take a lot of information you ask
questions and more importantly you stay humble because no agencies does a great work working
alone strategic workshop including the client might seem like an extra investment sometime
but it's actually more productive for us and save loads of time in the long run thank you also help
us to identify potential problems before they arise find the purpose the why and lay down the
story line for each moving piece of the project in order to meet and manage the client's expectation
next slide all right okay guys nurture the relationship bond with the people not just
the business and supporting to go beyond your single contact and build authentic relationship
with different people in the business because you never know where they're going to end up working
learn to say bravo to clients to colleagues yourself your barista everyone really this
one is close to my heart because a lot of good thing can come from a pattern
on the back maybe it's a personality thing but i believe in going out of your way to say bravo
and commend someone for excellent service is worth the extra effort
we're emotionally driven human and i encourage everyone to show appreciation for a job well done
know your clients and where to focus to stay on budget and on track here's where we get to
apply the concept of emotion and logic the client will always want more you know that
the client will always want actually everything to stay on track use your intuition and emotional
power to find out what the client is aiming and identify where to hit artists for maximum impact
be part of the solution hi next slide be part of the solution the impact of finding the right
fit means that you can be part of the solution you want to choose projects and clients that
actually fits within your team's capabilities and the project they're motivated to work with
we invest in keeping our employees happy and appreciated so our team is efficient and know how
to work together to deliver a great result on time keep the partner involved at locomotive all three
partners are in the mix of every single project we're there every day working with the team making
sure every project is on track all right now that we share some of our fundamental principle
here are some specific tools or trends to get your hands dirty we're really not reinventing
the wheel here but here's a few things that help us locomotive to deliver a bit more with less
on your style or if you run an agency find the right talent and keep it define a graphical or
creative style that feel true to yourself a system in a design process that is convenient for your
type of work that suits your team's need challenge your creative process and infuse your team with
always the aim of beating your last best work give and take always stay curious can't stress that's
enough develop your own toolbox or make time for your developer to do so and learn new tools
along the way we don't always have to start from scratch there's so many things available online
that we can use to start with the google developer tools for example offer endless solutions to make
great things with less the past year we've been playing with text to speech augmented reality
getting our ways around to experiment machine learning into your project and much more
but most importantly find your voice and share what you learn with your peers through github
bloody blogging or collaborating through network through awards like this conference today
depending on the kind of insight you're looking to share
here's a two example uh recently we've shared a piece of our toolbox we could say part of our
secret sauce to the public the locomotive scroll so there's so many things you can do lerp effect
moving objects managing parallax and much more so we have an open communication with the people who
use it and you can find the address just there can snap we'll give you time to snap think oh too late
sorry i'll give it back to you later uh another projects uh editorial new with our good friends at
foundry i think it's just playing with the variable funds and all the capabilities
uh that the the variable funds have to expand boundaries of type animation and rendering
so also there's a few links if you want to get some and play with variable fonts so what's next
the project has been delivered will there be a second date or was it just a one-time thing
does it have to end or can it continue will the client and agency go back to swiping for a
new collaborator or make the effort to invest and build something we don't have the answers i think
in the small agency world we're like serial data in this scenario at least locomotive we do a lot
of great project that goes super well that lasts one day then everybody moves on to the next match
if the status quo is more of a dating situation how can we as an industry change that or more
importantly do we want to change that if so how can we get better at creating a fit that will last
or is the digital agency world destined for serial dating and it's so it's just okay like that
maybe there's no right answer maybe the question is which way do we want to go as a business
perhaps it's in human nature to always want something new and yet there's value in magic
and business relationship that injures both sides have to be ready willing and able to do the work
that make it happen feels like we each have a choice blue pill or red pill i can choose
the art making the effort to build something strong with a great client which means putting
in the hard time sometimes uncomfortable work over time or choose the easy swipe right and
start over with a new prospect every time no vulnerability required the options are there
no matter which bill we pop i have an idea let's ask the audience what do you think friend
pretend that you have to make a choice for your business development and the way you approach
clients relationship do you want to be a player extraordinaire or a hopeless romantic please raise
your hand here for the player extraordinaire those who value like more put more time and resource
into finding dynamic new ways uh dynamic new projects with loads of great new clients so who
is the player extraordinaire who likes to go on or is actually going on on projects to another okay
now raise your hand for the hopeless romantic those who invest time and resources into building
something that endure with the best clients relationship that you actually already have
all right not everyone answer i see so we'll come to that later
so how do we build them we've been working at making better at making our business relationship
last over time but it's a challenge that can sometimes feel tougher than expected so how do
you keep them on your boat fred stay relevant adapt challenge the client get fresh idea and
always treat him as a new prospect on a first date take responsibility this means so many things in
a nutshell we would humbly advise you to take good care of your clients check in on them and
their needs keep the communication open but most importantly take responsibility for your fault
and mistakes so we're going to try real hard to do that fred right you bet if none of that works we
can always blame the client the classic agency move if something goes wrong with the project
it's always the client's fault right jeff but is it really what about some introspection have we
always been irreproachable how can we increase our chance of a better outcome so in the end
it's not always the client's fault we might have some work to do on ourselves always before we go
we have one more thing looking towards the future an increasingly automated and ai driven industry
where does a small agency like locomotive fit what's the value do we bring to the table
we feel our value is our creative and human side professional human advice over automation remains
the real value of tomorrow's agency part of that means finding creative ways to put automation to
good use in order to help humans to more to work and create more efficiently together
we hope to discover that by grounding these ideas in our culture project process in the
meaningful environment we create for our client whether they're here for one project or more
so in conclusion here's one thing we are sure about let's swipe right for a future of open
collaboration of being vulnerable and sharing our challenges so we can all build this future
together and figure it out we've seen some shy hands so we've prepared something for you because
maybe someone don't like to say their player extraordinaire so we prepare a small survey
little things to to to uh get your answers on who's the player extraordinaire and who's the
whole place romantic would love to find out what you're thinking so the address is locomotive.ca
tokyo if you'd like to answer our one question survey we'd love to get your thought about that
thank you very much