What’s your problem?

Yeah. What’s your number one problem? On the job that is.

And how do plan to solve it?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Ken Church on May 13, 2009 at 6:04pm

If your team can't produce the design that works, get a team that can.
I worry a bit about your statement, "the design I need". Do you hire creative people and tell them what you need, like design, color, concept ? Or do you provide a brief and let them do the job. If that is true and they are missing the mark, you really do need someone with more experience. If you are expecting them to read your mind. Well, I'm sure your not doing that.

Permalink Reply by Susanna K. Hutcheson on September 6, 2007 at 7:32pm

I think the number one problem of most of us who do creative work for businesses is perhaps the clients. Many of them actually think they know more than we do and try to dictate how we write or how we come up with concepts and execute them. The creative then must decide whether to do what he or she knows is best, even though the client won't like it, or to do it the way the client wants and have an ineffective result.

The client all too often shoots himself in the foot. Either way, we get the blame.

To this I would add an equally disturbing problem --- that of working with the art department. Artists like to make art the main thrust of the ad copy. In fact, it should be ancillary and should merely make the copy do the job of selling. But we have to work with their sensibilities. That makes for a difficult job and often, the client is not well served as a result.

Permalink Reply by Steve McNamara on September 10, 2007 at 3:13pm

Hi Susanna:

Interesting post. I’ve certainly had clients who have weird ways of thinking about advertising.

Recent example: I had recommended that a client send a DM package in a US Priority mail envelope. The list was small. The value of an acquired customer was high. And while USPS Priority Mail envelope is less expensive than FedEx or UPS, it has that “This is an important document” impact.

The marcom manager did not like this idea. The reason? “I used to be a process server,” She explains. “And people are suspicious of official looking mail.”

But for every client who doesn’t get it, I’ve had three who do. And you may recall that Bill Bernbach always carried a note in his coat that read, “The client might be right.”

Permalink Reply by Lane Casteix on November 2, 2007 at 12:19pm

"The client might be right." Good advice and hard to remember in the face of some of the client "issues" mentioned above. It is true, however. Every once in a while (rarely) they do come up with a good idea we had not thought of.

My beef? Design by committee, which seems to be the norm with some clients. We get hammered to reduce the estimate, we remove some features/services, they approve the new lower budget, they inevitably exceed the approved budget with committee requested changes. "How about the headline in red and another font?" "Now try blue." In other words, they pay us to retrace our steps over ideas we had already rejected. You all know the drill.

What to do about it? Lower the budget with reduced features, spell it out in detail, and then let them know when they are on the clock with "outside the estimate client changes". Doesn't always work, but sometimes....

Monthly billing helps. Our clients don't seem to ever total those up, especially when the project goes over the end of their FY.

You can't beat good clients who know their limitations! They always get the best work.

Lane

Permalink Reply by Ken Church on May 13, 2009 at 6:14pm

Steve,
I like the what Jay Chiat said. If the client does not like the work of his agency, they should do it anyway. Something like that. It's not like we knock out headline in a vacuum. Weeks of work go into the startegy. Once the client buys the strategy, and as long as we hit that strategy a wise client should carry a note around that reads, Listen to the creative people, they might be right.

Permalink Reply by Cori Donohoe on April 3, 2008 at 5:13am

My biggest problem at the moment is finding trained English-native copywriters that are legally able to work in the EU and want to move to Copenhagen. I think I'm going to try running recruitment ads in the UK again, but if anyone has any advice on the best place to search or knows of any good copywriters that are looking for a gig, advice would be welcome.

Permalink Reply by Jack Goldenberg on April 5, 2008 at 9:53pm

It's always such a struggle to find good account services people who know how and even why they should fill out a Creative Brief. I've tried refusing to start work until I get a properly filled out Creative Brief, but that only makes me and my client suffer.

Deadlines don't change, even though they should, so sometimes I wind up enabling the account services people to NOT do their job because I have to do mine no matter what.

Jack Goldenberg
obamawtches.com

Permalink Reply by Jack Goldenberg on April 8, 2008 at 9:20pm

Thanks, Steve, I will check it out because no matter how much you know, you can always learn more. My problem wasn't writing Creative Bruefs, it was getting them from Account Services people to clarify IN WRITING what they're cleints wanted. Anyway, thanks.

Jack

Permalink Reply by Steve McNamara on April 9, 2008 at 10:25am

Jack, sounds like a management issue. The Big Boss needs to support professional practices, including written briefs. The AdCracker.com page I recommended makes the point, "Working from verbal input, without a written brief, is how amateurs waste time and money."

Steve

Permalink Reply by Steve McNamara on August 5, 2008 at 1:12pm

Hi Jack:

I agree. You might want to check out AdCracker.com's articles and sample creative briefs.

How to write a creative brief - Besides AdCracker's Classic Creative Brief and Quick Brief there's an Advanced Brief for new biz, and several other brief forms - direct, Website etc. There are even completed samples, resulting ads, and an instructional video and article, "10 tricks to brand-building, sales-ripping creative briefs."
http://www.adcracker.com/brief/index.htm

http://www.adcracker.com/brief/sample-creative-brief.htm

Permalink Reply by Jack Goldenberg on August 6, 2008 at 12:46am

Steve,

Either we've had this actual discussion before or Yogi Berra is singing again. Don't try to follow my metaphors. I don't even understand them. Either way, it's good advice and I'll follow up on it. I appreciate it.

A mystic named Gurdjieff understood why it's useless to explain SOME things to SOME people. "It's like trying to explain to pigs the quality of oranges."

Now that's actually a metaphor I get.

Permalink Reply by Michael Durwin on February 21, 2009 at 4:46pm

I feel the same. Whenever possible I prefer to be front and center with the client, rather than trust an AE to decipher then translate to me what the client wants. I'll let them write up the creative brief anyway, but at least I'll know when they've done it wrong!