A recent survey by the PRCA and its partners found that 92% of independent agencies have either collaborated with another agency on a brief during lockdown or are now happy to do it if the opportunity arises.

The main reason agencies prefer this joined-up approach is to fill skill gaps their team doesn’t have (77%), provide the best client experience (44%), aid creativity (33%) and foster a more flexible working culture (17%).

“While agencies were collaborating years before COVID-19, the current situation has highlighted the need to accelerate this, in order to thrive in the current climate. As the research indicates, harnessing the era of the specialist is crucial for agencies,” says CEO and founder of Pimento Stephen Knight. “Every business has a niche – something it’s really great at – and joining forces with other professionals to deliver clients’ projects, not only helps foster high-quality output, but strengthens the foundations of our industry as a whole.”

The research also points to the fact that the creative sector has increasingly embraced the power of virtual communications, with 81% of agencies winning work virtually for the first time and almost half of them disagreeing that colleagues need to be in the same physical space to be creative. 72% of respondents said they will now want to split their working day between the office and home.

According to Knight, the collaborative aspect will continue to grow over the coming months. “Agencies are clearly continuing to adapt the way they function, in order to remain buoyant in the marketplace – with many challenging the ‘traditional’ office concept. Creativity doesn’t just happen due to being in the same four walls as your peers, it’s the people and their skills which bring briefs to life – no matter where they are in the world,” he says.

The study, which spoke to small and medium-sized independent agencies throughout the UK, was conducted by the virtual agency network Pimento in partnership with the Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA), Marketing Agencies Action Group and independent communications collective, Harbour.