After the Creative Pitch Ends…

Providing Feedback – Hallway Consensus Building and Other Pitfalls

During my career in client side advertising, marketing management and sponsorship agency work, nothing is harder to master than evaluating creative work and providing meaningful feedback. Sure it is fun and exciting to work with the creative guys in developing ideas that bring your brand to life. Unfortunately, most brand marketers are better trained in developing customer understanding, developing strategies and executing plans than evaluating creative.

Is this familiar? The room is full of marketing folks, anticipating to be wowed by ideas. The agency account team sets the stage – strategy, plan and timetable. Next the creative team launches into an animated, energetic review of three ideas. Suddenly they stop talking and turn to you, expectantly wanting affirmation, agreement, smiles, applause, something, anything.

If it is your task, don’t make it harder on yourself (and others around you) by falling into a few common traps. Below are some ground rules for effective creative review sessions that should be followed, if you value your agency relationship and want good work:

- Make certain the ultimate decision maker is in the room. Don’t waste the agency and your time.
- Don’t be ‘inclusive’ when inviting people to the review. It may add confusion on roles and everyone feels compelled to add comments.
- Make sure you or the agency or you revisit the brief for the room. Make certain everybody involved understands and agrees to the strategy, audience, objectives, etc.
- Prior to the meeting, clearly define who will run the meeting on the client side, especially when time comes to provide comments and reactions. The awkward silence and eye averting behavior is unnerving and not needed. If you run the meeting, DO NOT pick the most junior person in the room to go first. Either the brand manager or their boss should kick off.
- Give feedback IN the meeting. It is unfair to expect them present work and wait for several days for input.
- Always start with a positive acknowledgment, regardless of what you think. Creative teams work hard and passionately on your business. Clients have to keep them motivated to get good work.
- Be honest, but ease into problem areas. Start with your initial, emotional gut reaction. That gives them something to work with and provides a bridge to problem solving.
- Stay big picture and away from tactical or technical nits. Is it on strategy? Does it fit the brand? Is it campaign-able? Does it work across media?
- Don’t play “Gar-animals” – picking pieces of multiple ideas and creating a new ad or campaign. You pay the agency to this, let the pros handle it. There are plenty of opportunities to art direct and copy write,later that are more acceptable.
- Don’t use the ‘Hallway Test’! Consensus building does generate good creative work. It puts people on the spot and generates safe, middle of the road ads. It also undermines your stature and authority, diminishing your esteem with the agency.
- Trust. 1. Your agency. They have more experience creating customer motivating communications. 2. Your gut. That initial reaction is HUGE. Take some time to think about it and the implications.

For some folks the creative review process occurs infrequently, so it is challenging to develop that skill. It is also a potentially stressful situation when it is your turn to speak. Where do you start, how do you organize your thoughts, how do you look smart in front of your boss?

To be effective I suggest that you prepare well in advance of the meeting, how you will handle that moment. It can be a critical moment. Don’t make it tragic.




PS - For the new advertising or brand manager, I highly recommend the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) Course – Creative Advertising. It takes one through the entire ad development process, including agency feedback and direction.

Exclamation Point Marketing!!!!!??

Is it just me or has the marketing profession has lost something in the past few years? Lately it seems to me that hype, promotion and volume have replaced cleverness, innovation and values.

Maybe it was too much Billy Mays yelling at me & now Sully, his smarmy Pitchmen buddy; maybe it is the current US obsession with tabloid journalism and personal desire for celebrity; possibly another casualty of the Wal-Mart effect. I could blame the Internet, video gaming, mobile content, maybe even El Nino. Safe to say, I haven’t determined the root cause, but I do know that brand marketing has lost a bit of luster recently.

Being a brand sensitive individual and one who was raised in the industry to develop, nurture and evangelize the value and critical importance of brands, I must say sometimes I feel a bit lost. We see brand extension after brand extension. Companies that have built great brands and good businesses like Di Giorno sold off for logistics reasons, not marketing issues.

Where, oh where is the customer in all this? It often appears that we have lost sight of their needs, desires and hopes. Or are we just determined to sell them stuff; at low prices? in massive quantities? Maybe that’s what they want and I don’t know it.

I, like so many, look forward to the Super Bowl coming, as much for the half-time entertainment, football and the commercials. This annual seminal moment in TV advertising is analyzed nearly as much as the X’s and O’s. Who is in, who’s out, how much are they spending.

What amazes me about Super Bowl ads (and now advertising in general) is how little the ads even talk about the product, if at all. I wonder if Danica Patrick even knows or cares about what Go Daddy does? More importantly, how many viewers even care. No doubt many young men find out they are a domain listing service, very few who have their own website.

One might excuse Go Daddy, but when such respected marketers as Budweiser airing ads that are never linked to the product, in any way, it hurts. If advertising is merely an attempt to entertain the audience, how effective can it be in shaping image or building awareness, trial and preference? Is it that marketers are just being lazy? Or going for the low hanging fruit? Or are consumers not demanding enough of the brands they upon which they spend?

My experience from 15 years of advertising tells me that some of the brightest and ambitious people - smart, clever, curious, insightful and driven- work in the field of advertising. They cannot be proud of some of the work out there. Advertising can be entertaining AND smart, strategic and on message. The current E*Trade campaign is spot on; funny, resonates with audiences; campaignable and flexible across media, including viral.

It can be done, but it takes a client that demands GREAT work and won’t settle for less!!!

Rules for Agency – Client Happiness

Many advertising and marketing executives build their reputation upon the value of the customer relationship to the brand. Creating strategies, messages and offers that create, nurture, and reinforce that connection. Funny, if they spent a small portion of that effort on the agency relationship, how much easier the task might be and benefits they might realize.

Having worked with a wide range of agencies of all types, sizes and disciplines; I have experienced a number of common issues, irritations and sensitivities. The current economic and world situation has only heightened insecurity.
To start off a new year and decade, I offer up some simple guidelines and suggestions that will lead to better work and more satisfying working relationships. They may be simple and obvious; that does not mean they are easy to follow and implement!

• It’s a Relationship – That means both need each other, so you have to be able to trust and depend upon the other party. However, it is never an even relationship; both parties always feel they are contributing more. Be sure to raise the discussion when it feels too far out of balance, say 70/30
• Not a Partnership – each of you is ultimately accountable for something, so try to be mindful of the roles and competencies. Clients, try not to write copy or art direct. Agencies, be wary of clients who abdicate the marketing strategy development to you; it’s setup for trouble!
• Communication is Key – Listening is the most fundamental skill required; work hard at listening to each other. And take time to check for understanding. Did you hear correctly?
• Feedback & Reinforcement – Look for opportunities to say “Thank you” and provide positive comments, EVERYDAY. Continuous negative feedback corrodes the relationship.
• Gifting – Try to surprise them once in a while for no reason, without being a holiday or other occasion (like a new product pitch). Good ideas, insights and thoughts demonstrate that you understand their needs and care about the relationship.
• 7 Second Delay - Please – Never, ever use bad words, or give feedback when you are angry. Once they are spoken or sent, you can never retrieve them – they hang in the air forever. Marketing is far more of an intuitive art form than engineering. Motivation and inspiration go farther than fear in getting good work
• Confront Issues Together – if and when you have problems, discuss it openly and honestly between yourselves. Don’t involve 3rd parties, even to vent. Doing so only magnifies the issue. NEVER mention ending the relationship, unless you are fully committed to that. Before that, any mention will only serve to weaken the partnership and put the agency further on the edge.
• Accountability – Affirm that the agency alone is responsible for creating impactful and effective – advertising, direct marketing, digital marketing, entertainment/sports marketing – campaigns, programs and plans. Oh yeah, and make sure you tell them that you truly believe they will do it.

Agencies and client have to work hard to keep the relationship fresh, vital and growing. The search and engagement process is quite protracted and lengthy – it should be avoided at all costs. If you have done the due diligence upfront, know each other and have good chemistry – it is very worth fixing any issues that surface along the way.

Splitting up is the easy way, but does not guarantee happiness.