“People who talk about the future are judged for their imagination, not their accuracy” – Jesse James Garrett
Here’s the scenario. You’ve probably been there alot. You’re in a meeting with creatives about a new campaign.
You say “So how’s the campaign going?”
They say “Really good!”
You say “Ok, so what what have you got?”
They say “We’ve got some some awesome headlines that really capture the essence of the brief. Prestige, value, urgency”.
You start to get worried
They say “Class of ‘08″
You say “ok…did you come up with anything else?”
They say “Yeah, sort of, but we felt that really summed it all up”
You say “So what else was there?”
They say “Class of 2008, but we think that was a bit cumbersome”
You leave
About a year ago I read a thesis by Mohammed Iqbal about applying the theory of the long tail to advertising creative and media planning. Essentially the thesis posits that rather than debating whether one line is better than another, multiple variations should be produced, trafficked, and the results should determine what works. At least, that’s what I got from the article.
I encourage all my clients and creative teams to take that approach. Unfortunately the agency/marketing department machine is so busy generating that perfectly shiny nugget of creative genius focused on one single message and insight endlessly re-iterated that it seems that they it’s hard to conceive of a different way of doing things.
In an earlier post I concluded by asking “What would happen if creative teams were given a video camera an internet connection and the licence to (be extremely reactive)?” Would the necessity of crafting that single silver bullet of a message be removed if creatives were able to sit shotgun with the client in holding their conversations with consumers?
Charles Frith just posted on a related topic asking what the future agency model will be. I’ve been arguing for a long time now that as product, advertising, sales and service, all get closer together, advertising agencies really need to become creative marketing consultancies. Charle’s post, combined with my thoughts about reactiveness and ability to facilitate conversation has convinced me that some drastic restructuring needs to take place.
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Tim, I agree 100%. The issue though is getting a seat at the business strategy table as opposed to the marketing table. To step into the space of the McKinsey crew, we’ve got to up our business credentials. Anything less and we remain with the short end of the stick, needing to market unremarkable products. You and I both know a couple agencies out there doing it a little differently, I guess the question is “When are you booking a ticket?”
I agree. It’s a need for education and small wins to progress.
Cheers!