warren Jul 17, 2008:

"Collaborative teams focused on delivering excellence of Big Ideas and creative marketing where agencies really know your business" - that is your answer.

Marek Daroszewski (MrMarDar) (asker) Jul 17, 2008:

Extended context follows:
Ideally, we should be looking to form long term partnerships that are based on trust with agencies who will be highly motivated, energized and perform at a level that contributes to our business success

Benefits of good relationships with agencies include:
Long term Agency relationships which champion your Brands (you receive the coveted “shower time” of talented agency personnel)
Collaborative teams focused on delivering excellence of Big Ideas and creative marketing where agencies really know your business – and are therefore more able to efficiently and effectively support and challenge you and your business thinking
Agencies becoming geared to provide improved delivery through incentivisation
Continual optimum performance through regular performance evaluation
[end of slide]
Relationships require active participants
Being accessible is a start but not enough
You can be responsive and pro-active too – remember you are competing for a share of ‘shower time’
Increasingly, you will be better trained than your agency counterpart
Help them understand more about you and your commercial world
[end of slide]

I still have no idea what the 'shower time' refers to.

warren Jul 15, 2008:

Additionally, compared to what is written "shower time" is a tangible thing or event, not an expression of some sort of emotion. It could be interesting to see the first sentence in full.

warren Jul 15, 2008:

This is not a term I have heard before but I don't think it has something to do with spare time or somebody actually taking a shower. Being told to "be responsive and pro-active too" has to do with marketing, I agree with Sheila.

Marek Daroszewski (MrMarDar) (asker) Jul 15, 2008:

Thank you all for your input. The fact that there are relatively few responses confirms that the metaphor is vague. I read it as 'spare time', i.e. agency staff think about their customer even when they take a shower. But nobody confirmed this.