The age-old debate, which one truly is the dark side or even the light side? Or are they both tinted with the same type of light?

Having worked my career mostly client-side and most recently agency-side, I would say I am in the privileged (!!??) position to speak about it. Is there really a difference that people talk about?

First up, is the work any different? In a word, yes it is. Those competitors you always used to look at through rose-tinted spectacles can often be even more spectacular when you meet them in person.

Having worked in the same industry all my career, perhaps it is a little different, we are all facing the same challenges as the industry contracts and expands with the influences our relative governments orchestrate. The impact on the agency side is felt, perhaps a little harder as they are subject to the course correction as demanded by the clients. The collective groan when the ominous words 'we're in-housing', 'cutting the roster by half', 'no more agencies' reverberated through the office.

I am the first to confess to saying those words from my time in client-side. No matter how right they were internally, the objective was perhaps not explained externally. Perhaps if we had sat down with our agencies and told them of our challenges there may have been a solution. We did call them partners after all when the going was good!

The collective knowledge agencies can deliver is quite exceptional.

Is it really the dark side vs the light side after all? Sure, when you are client-side there is not the cut and thrust of the new business dynamic. But, there are other demands on time, stakeholder management, brand security and positioning. After all, in the branding world you are the curator and governor (before I hear the collective groan, yes, the consumer is the real champion, but for the purposes of this article it doesn't translate so well!) of everything that happens positively and negatively.

Since moving agency-side, I no longer use the words 'can you just', 'would you mind', 'could you take a look at XX and let me know your thoughts' and finally, 'any chance we could have it for tomorrow, it's for our Board meeting'.

In the same respect, there is a lot more of 'did they get the email?', 'they could at least acknowledge my note' and 'do you think we have a chance'?!!

In short, both sit somewhere along the spectrum of the solar eclipse, which is odd, because businesses can't do everything on their own and agencies are often pretty damn good at doing what they do!

Passing comment; agencies, stick in your wheelhouse, know what you're good at (and not)… clients, hit that reply button, you never know what nugget you are about to unlock.

Written by: Philip Ainsworth, Director Of Wines & Spirits