Is good the enemy of good?
Is good advertising always good?
By good advertising I mean the stuff that either wins awards or gets recognized around the office.
Is it really good though?
Is it working for the client? Is it selling anything? Is it making people think differently about a product?
So many creatives get hung up on doing something cool that they forget the main goal of our jobs—to sell shit.
We can make as many excuses as we want, like ‘I’m protecting the integrity of the brand.’ or ‘It’s going to get create a ton of word-of-mouth.’
Maybe.
But I’ve actually been in a meeting where someone said, ‘yeah that’ll sell a ton of product but I don’t like it—so I don’t want to present it because they might buy it.’
You selfish prick.
You don’t want to show the client work that will perform well because it doesn’t advance your own agenda?
No wonder so many have such a low opinion of the people in our business.
Listen, I want to do cool stuff as much as the next guy, but I’m also aware enough to recognize that sometimes you just need to be clear, direct and to the point.
It might not win any awards. It might cause a few snickers around the office. It might even hurt your career.
But you’ll have your integrity. Too bad they don’t make an award for that.
- TJ Bennett
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Good stuff. I have thought about that so many times when getting my work reviewed. Even when reading the critics on ads of the world. Most of it is just a clever execution but doesn’t really ad any value to the brand.
However there are some campaigns out there that are creative and very smart. They give an understanding and feel about the brand, done in an interesting way. Not just some clever execution that looks like everything else.
I like to win awards.
Note the plural: awards.
But the only way you can win more than one shiny prize is if the first award-winning ad you did for a client actually gets results.
Otherwise, client go bye-bye.
Good point, Craig. I think part of the problem is clients come and go so quickly these days. And it often has nothing to do with the work, just politics. So, why should creatives care about getting results if the client’s just gonna leave next year anyway when they hire a new CMO?
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