tired of hearing…‘It’s taking longer than we thought’?
Why we adopted The Goldilocks Model.
Why do large agency models struggle with agility? You can look to nature for the answer. While large creatures (100 kgs+) are often the top predator in the wild, the one thing all of these giant beasts have in common is they aren’t nimble. They’re formidable because of their size and (sometimes) big teeth, but these behemoths are not fleet of foot and require a lot of calories to stay alive.
Large organisms and organisations struggle with agility because they have more mass and need to feed often. The complicated digestive hierarchy creates a bottleneck where you must wait for shit to happen. You feed it a lot and it takes ages for those calories to be processed.
The other issue with big beasties is they struggle with focus. Do you know the scene from Jurassic Park with the T-Rex? ‘Don't move! He can't see us if we don't move.” Large organisations struggle with details because keeping a big beast focused is challenging. Focus = care = quality. No one cares more or delivers quality like an SME owner or a freelancer who knows they’re only as good as their last gig.
That’s why getting ‘big’ in-house has never worked for us.
And why we adopted the Goldilocks model for Ruffells.
You recall the fairytale: a young blonde burglar breaks into a house, eats food and falls asleep only to be found and either eaten or adopted by the homeowners depending on which version you get your hands on. The operating idea in that story was finding the chair, the food and the bed that was ‘just right’.
That’s our operational mandate: to do what’s (just) right for you. We keep our core crew lean at Ruffells and build teams to fit briefs. You get the best people for the project, and they deliver on a budget because they are the best in the business, typically aren’t tied to a desk, and have to hit time sheet minimums every day.
We’ve spent years creating connections with the best freelance talent in the industry - all over New Zealand. We still have a big agency’s creative clout but a small one’s agility. You don’t have to settle for the next available in-house designer or wait until the senior creative can ‘take a look at it.’
During times when senior leaders and upper management are being asked to find ways to ‘tighten up wherever possible,’ it pays to look at leaner, faster, more focused teams with great connections;
1. leaner, we’ve already trimmed the fat, so we keep margins tight,
2. faster, smaller teams have fewer hoops, more access to senior people,
3. super focused because you are working with project managers who care about the little things.
(also hungrier, so we burn a few more calories to make the transition easy for you)
And, just like Goldilocks, you get to sleep comfy with a full belly, knowing that your project is managed by a team who will do what’s (just) right for you.