Every Brief You Get has Three Problems Hidden Inside it

By / / The client has a problem. He has to show results. Now. The average tenure for a CMO is 23 months. If the campaign doesn’t work, your client will have hell to pay. If you consistently fail to solve this problem, your agency will be pitched under the nearest bus. You will be let go. A few of your friends will lose their jobs. The agency has a problem. It needs to do work that makes it famous. That gets on the blogs. That wins awards. Because great work is an agency’s main tool for bringing in new projects, new clients and new talent. If you consistently fail to solve this problem, you will be fired before you drag your whole agency into a self-defeating downward spiral of boring work that attracts timid clients. The consumer has a problem. He’s numb. He looks for inspiration, joy and meaning. And finds Charlie Sheen and Jersey Shore. He is assaulted by so many ads and logos that they’ve become nothing but the paper that covers the walls of his world. If you consistently fail to solve this problem, nothing much will happen to you. You will go on winning awards and your clients will shake your hand heartily. But at the very deepest level, you’ll be a failure. You were handed the chance to talk to thousands, maybe millions of people. And you passed the opportunity by. In your soul, you’ll know. You’re part of the problem. You’re making this world worse. Not better. You’re putting up wallpaper instead of kicking open windows. Every brief you get has three problems hidden inside it. Average ads solve one. Good ads solve two. Great ads solve three. This piece is cross-posted on Matt Ingwalson’s blog.

Comments

  1. doozie February 18, 2011

    Amen, brother. After 15 years
    Amen, brother. After 15 years in the business, I catch myself sometimes phoning it in just so I can get out the door and home to my family. This reminds me to strive for greatness. Thanks for the kick in the ass.

  2. Corey February 18, 2011

    Great post Matt!
    Great post Matt!

  3. The Chad February 18, 2011

    Very well said
    Very well said

  4. Ivan Raszl February 19, 2011

    Very good. So true. Shared it
    Very good. So true. Shared it on our AotW Facebook page.

  5. Miguel February 19, 2011

    That’s the way it is!
    That’s the way it is!

  6. Richard Wise February 19, 2011

    Fantastic point – well
    Fantastic point – well said.
    An example of what you are talking about:
    The Most Interesting Man in the World
    — brilliant counterpoint to the culture of FameUs
    — brilliant counterpoint to the deflation of the male identity
    Discussed in more detail on rwise.tumblr.com

  7. Joe February 19, 2011

    I’ve been commissioning
    I’ve been commissioning advertising for about ten years and from my experience agencies that draw a distinction between these three problems are missing the point.

    Here’s how it works: if the consumer is engaged, the campaign will work, and your client’s problems will be solved – and that should be how agencies define success.

    We clients can spot award-hungry agencies a mile off – and good clients will avoid them like the plague. ‘Timid’ clients are those who let agencies walk all over them and produce posturing award-winning campaigns that achieve nothing but line the pockets of agency execs.

    It’s only advertising, for chrissakes!

  8. Omar Rodríguez-Rodríguez February 20, 2011

    Don’t tell me there is a
    Don’t tell me there is a problem, show me the solutions.

  9. John February 21, 2011

    Joe hit the nail on the head.
    Joe hit the nail on the head.

    “Great work” in an advertising sense is work that solves the target market’s problems.

    Everything else is window dressing.

  10. anon February 21, 2011

    Joe & John,
    It takes great

    Joe & John,

    It takes great work to engage customers. Great work is often award-winning work. You should hope your agency partners strive to work this hard for you and you should demand that they produce great work. But good for you if you’re content with good work. I’m sure your customers think the same thing when they purchase your products.

  11. M.Wilde February 21, 2011

    Just found the best blog
    Just found the best blog ever!

  12. John February 26, 2011

    anon – I work for an agency.
    anon – I work for an agency. Interesting you assume I’m a client. I just think the main focus should always be on the customers in any brief without worrying about awards.

    Obviously you always strive to produce great work. But we’re not producing art – we’re producing work that needs to get results.

    If you get awards – great. But it is not what advertising or other marketing agencies are for. Designing an ad that looks really good is easy. Designing one that actually produces results is not. And it will only produce results if you design it with the end consumer/target market in mind – not award show judges.

  13. jclaflin February 26, 2011

    Agree, but even with
    Agree, but even with inspiration, it still gets covered in the marketplace clutter. Ads must seek to build the brand, create preference and cause an action. Awards are swell, but only after the client gets their return on investment, especially in this economy.

  14. Joe February 26, 2011

    John – I couldn’t agree more!
    John – I couldn’t agree more!

  15. mattnads March 2, 2011

    Great share Matt. Truth is
    Great share Matt. Truth is better than fiction once again.

  16. Anon March 2, 2011

    Joe and John-
    Based on Matt’s

    Joe and John-

    Based on Matt’s assertion is that great work wins awards, produces results, and breaks through the clutter, it seems as if we’re all in agreement that great work is the goal. I think we’d agree that one must focus on all three.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *