The Musings Of An Opinionated Sod [Help Me Grow!]

Worse … the solution most agencies come up with is an ad that promotes the problem, rather than amplifies a carefully developed solution.

What frustrates me most about this approach is that we all accept there’s always more than one way to overcome a problem, and yet 99% of the time we choose the easiest option available.

Now there’s loads of reasons for this … clients closed mind, agencies incompetence to know how to charge for something other than an ad, creatives inability to think in anything other than print or film … however I think there’s someone who is more to blame, and that is the planner.

Yep, I am slagging off my own … but the thing is, if you take planning to its lowest common denominator, it’s about making a brand ‘fit in’ rather than stand out so almost from the start we’re doomed in driving new thinking forward.

And the thing is, if we want to feel we are the ignition behind great ideas, then we have to take responsibility for giving our creative partners something fresh and focused to work off plus – and this is a critical element – getting any pedantic, small-minded, conservative clients to accept this fresh strategy/creative as sound business [and common] sense.

[Note: Planners need to stop just focusing on input and start judging their abilities on output. Planners who claim brilliance even though the work produced is generic cateory bollocks need to take a long hard look at themselves. You want the glory? Well take some of the responsibility … we’re in this together and having a departmentalised mentality is one of the reasons this industry is not as powerful – or as fun – anymore]

Which leads to the point of this A[P]SOTW assignment.

Unlike many out there, I believe the fundamental goal of marketing/advertising is to sell stuff.

That doesn’t mean executing hard sell bullshit like so much of the retail category do, but it is about finding ways that will motivate the masses to want to find out more …

[After that, the clients role and responsibility in the whole process really kicks up a gear because if they can’t offer a product/service/delivery/etc that meets people’s needs/wants, then the lack of sales is their fault, not ours – though these issues should have taken place way before a single idea was thought about, though I appreciate too often adland is excluded from this vital part of the process rather than actively embraced. I remind clients we’re called ADVERTISING, not SELLVERTISING – so if they want us to take more responsibility for our role [which I agree we should] then they have to let us have more influence throughout the process rather than just the last 10%]

Anyway, back to the post …

Photo: Madh

Where was I? Oh yes – motivating the masses to find out more.

Now, contrary to popular opinion, to achieve this goal is not about carefully crafting pieces of 30” CGI … nor is it using social networks or digital as a whole … it is about getting back to what great advertising has done for decades, persuade.

The power of persuasion seems to be a dying art in adland, and yet in a World of parity products and categories, it is possibly more important than ever before.

Whilst I appreciate to create a reasoned argument [based on fact] that encourages people to follow your point of view rather than a competitors is often quite dependent on having the right material [ie: the clients brand/product] to play with, the reality is that often it’s about creating magic with what you’ve got, rather than what you wish you had.

Maybe it’s because of my families background in law – however I’ve always regarded barristers as the epitome of persuasion pitching.

Their ability to work within a fixed framework and yet craft reasoned arguments that can change juries opinions/agendas/viewpoints/appreciation of ‘facts’ is amazing and I believe adland should take a closer look at how they operate [well, how the good ones operate] because it might help them understand how they can create even more powerful communication … communication that persuades and motivates the masses rather than tries to brainwash them or beat them into submission.

OK, I accept the rules that judge ‘success’ in law are very different to the rules that determine whether a client chooses your campaign over a competitors – however persuasion is a deadly weapon and as much as it has often been used in adland to get clients to buy ‘bland’, it can also be used to get clients to buy ‘new’.

One of the things we do internally is give our planners a brand and then randomly throw words at them to which they have to create a reasoned argument linking the brand to the word.

ie: SONY and Determination … or Microsoft and Mischievous

You’d be amazed how powerful this is in helping planners look beyond the blinkered paths our brains push us into …

Anyway all this leads to the A[P]SOTW challenge.

Your goal is to create a strategic argument why your particular country should adopt this flag as its new national emblem.

Photo: Gittsy Ruthie

Remember, a flag supposedly represents the essence of a country … it’s more than just visual symbolism, it is cultural and philosophical … so your response must convey this, it’s way beyond just iconography.

Now the rules.

1/ No more than 10 slides.

4/ You must encapsulate your argument with a simple positioning statement – one that can clearly be understood by a fellow citizen and stranger alike.

That’s it …

Yes I know it’s very ambiguous … yes I know it looks like the kind of stuff I’m forever slagging off Landor … but this isn’t about design per se, it’s about making people believe, moving them into new territories rather than nurturing tired, old views, it’s about encouraging creative discovery rather than creative cliché … most of all, it’s about making us worth the money clients pay us again!

Because there is no way to ultimately judge a ‘winner’, the criteria we will be using for evaluating each entry will be things like flow of presentation, imagination, clarity and logic and to help in identifying this, I have enlisted the help of a number of people … people who are experts [professional or otherwise] who can judge cultural relevance, train of thought, logic and persuasive appeal and they
are …

Me.

Jill [tip-top designer]

Andy [underneath it all, quite talented creative]

Lauren [who I haven’t been able to ask yet, but I’m hoping she’ll say yes. Lauren?]

Judy [ex-CEO of Lonely Planet]

Stephen [cynic – and Nick Leeson’s – legal counsel]

My Mum

Entries to be sent to this address by midnight GMT, April 15th

Any problems/questions/issues – drop me a line, but most of all enjoy it – take our minds on a journey of discovery and adventure but make sure your twisted logic ends up being sound because in business it only counts if they sign on the line, and that tends to only happen* if it makes business sense, not just emotional.

Oh, and whilst I said this assignment was to help planners develop and sell better work, it is not limited to them … infact I encourage anyone who wants to have a go to enter, because not only is there no ‘wrong answer’ [so you don’t have to worry about looking silly, which you wouldn’t anyway] the fact is there are many situations in life where having the ability to persuade someone to think your way would be useful – especially where debt collectors are concerned, ha!