Creative ideas may spark attention, but it is trust, shared data and honest collaboration that truly sustain successful brand campaigns. Industry experts are calling for a redefinition of agency–client partnerships built not on transactions or quick wins, but on openness, shared responsibility and a culture where strategy comes before slogans.

Data as Cornerstone

Professor Uchenna Uzo of Lagos Business School highlights data as the cornerstone of this new blueprint. “Academia eats, breathes and lives data,” Professor Uzo explains. “But progress stalls when brands, agencies and researchers keep data locked away. Sharing data transparently allows everyone to uncover deeper consumer insights and address persistent industry challenges.”

 

Agencies Must Move from Hoarding to Collaborating

Professor Uzo sees an industry future driven by data-centric strategies, where agencies integrate artificial intelligence to build smarter, evidence-based campaigns provided they move from hoarding information to collaborating openly.

 

Proactive, Tailored Solutions

From the client’s side, Roseline Abaraonye, Marketing Director at Imperio International, points to a different stumbling block: agencies often wait for briefs instead of leading with proactive, tailored solutions. “Too many times, agencies present the same one-size-fits-all ideas,” she notes. “They should come to the table with insight-driven thinking and real value addition then refine those ideas with the client. Partnership isn’t about waiting for instructions.”

 

Agencies Do Groundwork First to Foster Meaningful Collaboration

Abaraonye argues that when agencies do the groundwork first, collaboration becomes meaningful, leading to creative work that truly fits each brand’s purpose and audience.

 

Cultural Shift to End Adversarial Mindset

At the heart of this transformation lies culture. Feyi Olubodun, Founder of Open Square Africa, argues that too many agency–client relationships have slipped into an adversarial mindset:

“The culture used to be ‘we are one team,’ sharing data and debating strategy together.

Today, it’s often ‘us versus them,’ which produces generic work with little depth,” he observes.

 

Clients and Agencies Must Invest in Talent and Challenge Assumptions

For Olubodun, meaningful change requires clients to empower marketing teams to think beyond quarterly pressures and agencies to challenge assumptions when needed.

He believes deeper investment in talent and tools from strategists to data scientists will raise the standard of creativity and strategic thinking across the industry.

 

Human Insight Beyond Data

Adding another layer, Kemi Longe, Profile Director for Southern West & Central African Markets at Diageo, cautions that data alone is not enough without human insight.

“Behind every dataset are real people with emotions and stories,” she says.

Drawing on her work leading wellness campaigns, Longe describes how behavioural surveys, personalisation and empathetic storytelling helped transform consumer engagement turning numbers into meaningful narratives that resonate and drive action.

 

 Curiosity and Long-Term Thinking

Together, these voices call for a marketing industry shaped by curiosity, shared responsibility and long-term thinking.

Agencies are urged to move beyond reacting to briefs and instead bring fresh, research-backed ideas to the table.

Clients, meanwhile, are encouraged to create space for innovation, trust their agency partners to challenge them and embrace experimentation.

 

Advocate for Open Collaboration

As Professor Uzo concludes, “When we shift from working in silos to sharing openly, everyone benefits and brands build campaigns that truly matter.”

Beyond logos and taglines, this emerging vision is about forging relationships rooted in trust, mutual respect and the shared ambition to move creativity and the industry itself forward.

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