Steve Parker, founder of independent creative agency BIRD, doesn't mince words when describing his approach to client relationships. After leaving his role as head of strategy at M&C Saatchi five years ago, Parker found himself increasingly frustrated with the limitations of freelance consultancy work.
"It irked me that as a freelance consultant and strategist, you'd come in, give a point of view, set the brief, do the strategy and then hand it over," Parker explains. "That always felt really unfulfilling to me."
This frustration ultimately led to what Parker describes as "quite a lot of hubris" when he simply "declared himself an agency" two years ago, a decision that has since evolved into a boutique operation focused on fewer, deeper client relationships and exceptional service.
The professional handholders
In an industry obsessed with disruption and cultural relevance, Parker's vision for BIRD stands out for its refreshing pragmatism. When asked about his agency's positioning, he eschews the typical agency rhetoric about "sitting at the apex of culture and creativity", what he dismisses as "such nonsense."
Instead, Parker has focused on identifying a genuine market need: guiding first-time advertisers through the daunting process of brand building.
"We work best with clients who are at the start of their advertising journey, clients who are doing their first brand campaign or their first brand campaign for some time," he says. "We're professional handholders. That means helping our clients make creative decisions with confidence, managing stakeholders and mitigating risks"
This approach has proven successful. In just two years, BIRD has established a roster of clients including Ahmad Tea (a global tea brand with presence in over 100 markets), SRM (a cybersecurity and risk management company), and Hughes (an electrical retailer). Remarkably, the agency has never lost a client—a testament to Parker's service-first philosophy.
Research from Forrester shows that 62% of CMOs cite "agency partnership quality" as a critical factor in marketing success, yet only 34% report being "very satisfied" with their current agency relationships. BIRD’s focus on service quality appears well-positioned to address this gap in the market.
Service as strategy
When asked what he hopes people think of when they hear the agency's name, Parker's answer is immediate: "Great service."
"I'm a strategist. We're committed to delivering the best strategy and creative. But for me, those things are both points of service," he explains. "At the end of the day, it's about understanding a business really well, taking the time to really understand a client's needs."
The agency's commitment to service extends to how they manage their supplier relationships. "Great service is about reciprocity," Parker says. "We try and pay people as quickly as we possibly can... I want to make working with BIRD a pleasure. Something that people want to do again and again."
This philosophy stems from Parker's recognition that as a small agency, he's dependent on the skills and commitment of his partners. "If I don't behave like the best possible partner I can, how can I expect their best in return?"
The brief-writing conundrum
One of the most revealing insights into BIRD’s approach comes when Parker discusses brief writing, a perennial pain point in agency-client relationships.
Parker recognises that client briefs often become "political documents where everything's just dumped in them and everyone has to have a say." Rather than waiting for the perfect brief to arrive, which he describes as a hallmark of "project management-led agencies", BIRD takes a more proactive approach.
"Where we add value is really sitting down and talking to the client about the problem - capturing the essence of what that is and getting it back to them," he explains. "So many agencies stand still as they wait for the client brief, but we dive into the problem and come back with a brief, that way we get things moving a lot quicker."
According to the IPA's EffWorks initiative, 73% of marketers report that poor briefing is the primary cause of ineffective campaigns, suggesting that BIRD’s approach to brief writing addresses a significant industry pain point.
From commodity to craft
BIRD’s work for Ahmad Tea illustrates how the agency applies its strategic thinking to elevate products in commodity categories. Parker describes how a conversation with one of the tea company's directors sparked a creative journey.
"One of our most important clients asserted, 'We've got the best tasting tea’, and while he’s not wrong, it’s not something you can simply claim…it’s like declaring yourself funny without telling a joke. We challenged them of the need to prove their taste credentials to their audience in the most compelling way possible,'" Parker recounts.
This challenge led to a campaign focused on taste in a category dominated by wellness messaging. "If you see a tea ad, it's pure wellness tropes and time for yourself. 'I feel better because of tea.' Which is pretty thin gruel to give your audience. You're just talking about the moment of consumption. You could be anybody," Parker observes.
Instead, BIRD developed a campaign that highlighted Ahmad Tea's obsession with quality and taste, creating six different black tea campaigns across 100 markets, each with multiple formats from master films to digital display, all on a remarkably tight budget.
"We're currently shooting a green tea campaign, and we have built a whole tea garden in a studio in Tottenham," Parker says with evident enthusiasm.
The future of BIRD
Looking ahead, Parker envisions steady, sustainable growth for BIRD, adding "one plus client a year on a rolling five-year time horizon" while maintaining the agency's focus on service and deep client relationships.
"I'm not looking just to build a big agency," he emphasises. "I want to keep the agency alive in an incredibly difficult industry until I retire. And that means creating a place I want to work, with clients I want to work with, at a pace that delivers the most impactful work."
This measured approach stands in contrast to the typical agency growth trajectory, which often prioritises rapid expansion and eventual acquisition. "It's not a case of let's create a business and sell it to Havas," Parker says. "It's a case of let's create a culture with deep client relationships, where we know their business intimately, and we work with them over years, not months."
In an industry landscape where 42% of CMOs report planning to review their agency relationships in the next 12 months (according to a recent Gartner survey), BIRD’s emphasis on long-term partnerships and exceptional service offers a compelling alternative to the revolving door of agency relationships that has become all too common.
As Parker puts it: "If we end up being the agency that does your first brand campaign and then we then build a deeper relationship from there, then I'd be really happy if that's what we became known for."
For marketers embarking on their first significant brand-building journey, or those simply tired of agencies that prioritise their own processes over client needs, BIRD’s approach represents a refreshing departure from industry norms. In a world of fleeting agency relationships, Parker is betting that there's still value in the art of holding hands.
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