How to be productive while remaining creative?

Case studies are always a way of connecting and sharing experiences, ideas and best practices.

Today, we met Rebecca, whom we bumped into at the 2023 Spot Festival, where Skeem was hosting a panel discussion.
The theme of this interview with Rebecca? “How can we be productive while remaining creative?”
We all experience it every day: making production efficient, meeting deadlines and satisfying customer requirements is a complex exercise. So how do you stay in tune and connected to the needs of your customer teams?
Rebecca tells us about her experience at Entrecom…

Hello Rebecca, can you introduce yourself in a few words?

Hello, I’m Rebecca Souffir, Head of Audiovisual Production at Entrecom. As part of my duties, I manage the Entrecom Production subsidiary, coordinate the teams on a day-to-day basis, and, of course, act as video consultant.

With 15 years’ experience as a video and photo production manager, during my 5 years at Brainsonic, I was asked to work as a production manager on projects for Microsoft, Amundi, L’Oréal, Edenred and others.

I then joined Entrecom in 2022, almost 1 year ago. Entrecom is an independent group of global communications agencies founded in 1989 and based in Paris, Bordeaux and Lyon. What I liked? Entrecom stands for a new way of doing business: more responsible, more creative and more efficient.

What kind of videos do you make and how often? Who are your clients?

We produce all types of video, from institutional, advertising, corporate and brand films to motion design, 3D and podcasts.

Our extra touch? We produce our content according to the principles of eco-socio-design to limit the carbon impact of our media and promote inclusiveness . This approach appeals to customers from a wide variety of sectors and needs, and stimulates our creativity. Among them: U Enseigne, Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, Universcience, Promocash, Swiss Life, La poste, Nation Data Center etc.

As far as customer relations are concerned, what do you see as the biggest challenges in production management?

In my opinion, the biggest challenges for collaboration between creative and customer teams are based on 3 pillars:

• Perfect knowledge of the client. We immerse ourselves in his world so that we can fully master his vision and his story. This allows us to speak the same language , and to be a source of ideas for adapting our editorial and creative strategy. That way, we can be sure of meeting their needs perfectly.
• Relational skills are also essential. Each customer is unique, and we constantly strive to be close to our customers, responsive and attentive to their needs. We function as if we were sitting next to him in the same office, supporting him whatever the situation. This allows us to develop mutual trust and create solid bonds, which sometimes go beyond simple professional relationships, as when we greet events in his family life. More than a service provider, we want to be a true partner on whom they can rely.
• Finally, co-construction is at the heart of our methodology, to ensure that we are all moving in the same direction. By being involved at every stage, the customer feels understood and concerned, and commits to working with us on a daily basis to bring the project to a successful conclusion. This gives him a sense of satisfaction and pride, which he shares with his teams.

What do you think is the key to effective collaboration?

Conversation is the key to effective collaboration. Knowing how to listen to each other, exchanging points of view and sharing experiences and ideas enriches the project. All this contributes to aligning visions according to everyone’s expertise, both the customer ‘s and the agency’s, and to leaving no detail to chance. This state of mind is in Entrecom’s DNA.

Creativity often means taking the time to research and listen. How can you be productive while maintaining the necessary quality?

The values that drive us and bring us together are what bind our Group together: commitment, inventiveness and high standards to achieve excellence. Because creativity is at the heart of our agency, we never propose the same thing twice. Our customers are looking for inspirations, trends and directions that we define and adapt to their needs, in order to create a symbiotic relationship.

Our secret? To achieve this, we offer the advantages of a talented team, nourished by a wealth of experience and inspiration, a team that is curious, enthusiastic and creative, and that expresses itself in workshops where we exchange ideas and co-construct with the customer. These moments allow us to take the time we need to be creative and productive. Correctly defining the scope of your requirements, setting up a methodology and a timetable are the key to combining quality and creativity.

And how do you go about it, in concrete terms, have you put any tools in place?

Exchange is essential to us. That’s why we’ve introduced a “geek culture minute” as part of our weekly team briefing . It’s a stimulating moment for us, as it allows us to share a discovery, an experience, a passion, etc., with others. This animates, feeds and nourishes the team’ s creativity on a daily basis. For example, this was the case with an award-winning rap music video that gave us the idea of editorial tone, figure of speech and anaphora. This has the effect of amplifying the message, creating a musicality in the discourse and reinforcing the emotional impact of the message conveyed. Our customer was immediately enthusiastic and validated the concept in record time. Within the group, the ” trend watch” workshop also enables us to regularly exchange views on fashionable themes, new territories of expression and weak signals to keep on our radar.

As far as project management is concerned, the team currently relies on two simple, complementary tools:

• The Google Drive file-sharing platform, where customers can find the documents they need to complete their project.
• The Vimeo software solution, which enables customers to provide feedback and comments directly on the videos. These are tools that we aim to optimize for ever greater efficiency.
• And we want to move towards solutions that are even more suited to our audiovisual businesses, offering a fairly exhaustive range of functions to centralize our productions . Among them: collaborative working, real-time exchanges, instant feedback on editing , etc.

In conclusion, do you have any advice or feedback you’d like to share with your peers?

My advice? You have to be sincere in your approach and produce content that makes sense. With a creative, proactive team, simple collaborative tools and effective communication, anything is possible.

Thank you very much Rebecca

Thank you very much.

Do you have experience and skills to share? Contact us!