Wednesday April 28, 2010

do opposites attract?

“Creative people have a fear of the obvious, and yet they have to present their work to people who have a love of the obvious.” Rory Sutherland, Vice-Chairman of the Ogilvy Group and President of the IPA.

In other words agencies fear their work not standing out, but most marketeers fear the exact opposite – standing out. They want to look like, and do, exactly the same as their competitors.

To us, presenting obvious work means that we will fail to be noticed. Consequently (and more importantly) so will our client’s product or service, which is a problem, considering 90% of advertising isn't even noticed.

Most marketeers see doing something different as risk not worth taking. Which is understandable, it's human nature to be afraid of change.

But we must remember, people will not start altering their behaviour towards public transport, unless we start giving them a different reason to do so.

As we have said before, real success in marketing means taking a risk and daring to be different (Meerkats anyone?).

That’s why it always seems strange to us that the most important sentence of any brief, is never actually written on the brief: 

"People must notice this advertising."

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life's a pitch

Pitching is a word in our industry that is feared by some, yet relished by others.

Some agencies see it as a chance to showcase their talents to a potential client, others as an unpaid punt that is a forgone conclusion.

Either way I’m convinced there is an definite art to presenting work to clients in this do or die situation.

Some clients are very formal while others like to relieve the pressure with a little humour, some expect a laptop, others, the touchy feel approach of concept boards.

When we pitch we know our approach is not going to please everyone, but all we can do is be ourselves, present work in a way that represents our philosophy and do so with a smile.

If the prospective client doesn’t like it, you just have to take it on the chin, learn from it and move on.

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top 10 marketing blunders no. 9

Every month we look at the most brilliant marketing screw-ups. This month Ford.

They had a real problem in Brazil when the Pinto flopped. The company later found out that Pinto was Brazilian slang for "tiny male genitals".

So they removed all the nameplates and substituted them for Corcel, which means horse.

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