It dawned on me a few years ago what a waste of resources it is for communication firms to “load up” bodies on client projects. Some of you savvy corporate communication and marketing directors know exactly what I’m talking about: you hire a firm or agency to develop internet, print or audio/video programming (or even strategic marketing consulting) – and the next thing you know tons of people are assigned to “work” the project, while you’re doling out hourly cash for all the bodies.

Also, for some reason many firms insist that all their people have to be on-site, sitting in the client’s offices in order to prove their “value” to the client. I really think that’s a cover for the contractor’s real motive: chunk up the bill and increase the margin on the job.

So armed with those observations, my firm (MCCI) put much more of its energy into online and phone/video conferencing with its clients – whether they’re in New York, St. Louis, Atlanta, or Detroit. We also decided we don’t need to have designers and writers constantly showing up at the client’s offices, or flying around the country on the clients’ dime just to make an appearance – on their dime, no less.

We took it a step further at MCCI: we looked at how many people are really needed in order to have a creative, evocative message, regardless of the medium. No, you don’t need 7 people on a video crew in order to have an award-winning product – try one or two! No, you don’t need three writers for an e-news publication: you only need one strong person with research and writing skills who understands the interactive environment. No, you don’t need 5 people to develop a stunning new web site for a client – try just 2 or 3.

The old agency sensibility says, “if you load up more people, you’ll have a more creative product.” In the interactive age, my firm’s sensibility says, “too many cooks rob the project of its creativity, ingenuity and originality – and they rip off the client financially.”

Doing it our way is GREAT for the client. Better product. More resonant messaging. And a much lower cost.