One of the many fascinating observations from our 20-years of client-agency evaluations is that relationships in the Americas (North America and LATAM) score consistently higher than other regions.
The question is, ‘Are client-agency relationships really better in the Americas than in lower-scoring regions’?
“Not so” according to behavioural psychologist Dr. Neil Gains. He believes this could be explained by something called Extraversion Bias.
Dr. Gains says “this phenomenon particularly prevalent in Western culture, where it causes people who are more outgoing, talkative and lively to be perceived as also more competent and more creative. Americans are generally more extravert than other cultures and therefore maybe rated as being more creative and competent”.
However, Dr. Gains cautions that “the evidence is that introverts are actually just as good (and often better), but there is a cultural bias towards extraversion”.
The fact that marketers and agencies in the Americas score higher does not necessarily mean that their client-agency relations are healthier but reflects the difference in cultures. Furthermore, the multinational spread of creative award winners at global advertising events proves that no country or culture has a monopoly on creativity.
While cross-regional scores are interesting, what is equally important is the scoring trends applied by the marketer and by the agency.
It seems that the Western cultures have become more positive about their agency’s performance, whereas Africa and Asia have changed very little over the same period.
Extraversion Bias, culture or another explanation? Let us have your thoughts.
Are you interested in how evaluation scores vary by region in your industry or category ? Contact us and we’ll let you know.
Read more about Extraversion Bias here.