In this fractured age, it’s not getting any easier for agencies to forge lasting relationships with their network clients, but that’s not stopping IKA Collective founder Ian Karr from trying. One of his company’s more recent projects, an eerie campaign for Fox’s “The Following,” was a showcase for how emphasizing client/vendor relationships enhances creativity by letting both sides cut through the bull and get down to the business of creating something awesome.

Helmed by director Kerry Shaw Brown, the production set out to shoot four uniquely different promos set in various locations including a jail cell and a FBI office… all in one day. Not satisfied with that level of challenge, they upped the ante further by settling on a decaying, unsafe abandoned grain factory in Brooklyn as the shooting locale. In addition, the show’s top two actors, Kevin Bacon and James Purefoy, were only on set for eight hours, putting a major time crunch on an already high-pressure situation, and a massive rainstorm from the night before forced crewmembers to jerry-rig a whole new pipe set-up to divert the flow of water.

But where there is trust and familiarity between companies, there is confidence that the job will get done no matter what the odds, and IKA and Fox stayed cool under fire (or water, as it were) and came up with a way to get the work needed done in the budgeted time, and within budget. One of the resulting promos, “Footprints,” seen above, debuted at the 2012 World Series and helped drive 10.4 million viewers to “The Following’s” premiere in January.

For Karr, it all comes down “to trust, especially when you’re dealing with a job of that scale with so many moving parts. If you don’t feel comfortable with who you’re working with, you’re going to question a lot more of the moving parts than you would if you do feel comfortable. If we didn’t have that history [with Fox], each phase of the production would’ve been a lot harder to get past.”

IAN KARR’s BEST PRACTICES FOR LONGTERM VENDOR/CLIENT RELATIONSHIPS

1) Listen, listen listen: It’s tough to relate to anyone if you’re doing all the talking.

2) Be realistic about what’s possible: Relationships are built on trust. If you say you can do something when in fact you’re being overly optimistic about it, you’re setting yourself up for problems. Clients may not like to hear about challenges, but they’ll respect you for having their back.

3) Don’t nickel and dime: Production is a fluid process. Before you ask for an overage, make sure there isn’t an underage someplace else to offset it. Being a relationship-focused company is about seeing the big picture…not every line item.

4) Client relationships are like personal ones…not all are meant to be: It’s counter-intuitive, but turning down work with clients you don’t connect with actually gives you more opportunity to grow the relationships that matter.

5) Vendors are just as important as clients: No one can achieve success alone. Building strong relationships with crewmembers fosters predictability and consistency across all projects.

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