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I'd also really like to understand the batting average of "proactive ideas" at whatever goal they're intended to achieve (incremental money, creative fame, both?) compared to the work an agency is chartered to produce by the scope of work.
I'm largely convinced the time spent on proactive ideas generates far less incremental return than spending that same amount of time doing a better job at the work you were hired to do (or even you know, resting and living life as the human beings we're supposed to be understanding).
Special callouts to those unhelpful people who send an Adweek or Ad Age link to some work that just got covered as evidence of "the power of proactive," and there's zero evidence within the article this was actually a proactive idea and not just part of the agency's scope of work.
This is totally legit and sort of along my POV of "proactivity is good" at an individual level, but crappy as a corporate business strategy. When account teams say "time to come up with a new proactive idea for our clients," it's not functional proactivity as you're describing it, but rather an unpaid project with a low chance of success.
Further, and maybe this is just my agency, the way this proactive fetishization comes to fruition is that account teams just open "proactive projects", schedule kickoffs and just tell the labor class "time for us to come up with a proactive idea for the client." Every account team does this and the creative team struggles to resource against it.
If all the people who are asking for proactive ideas are capable of doing is rustling up the doers and saying "give me another please," then all proactive idea projects are just a rebranded way of saying "unpaid, non-billable work."
Usually a sign that account management is bad at their job and doesn’t push back on the client so creative is stuck trying to find the wiggle room.
OP also indirectly said this, but there's a difference between proactivity as a behavior and proactive ideation as a business strategy.
Proactivity as a behavior is good! I owe significant amounts of the success I've enjoyed in my career to proactive investments I've made. Practicing proactivity with clients is also good! Why not be two steps ahead of them?
Proactive ideation as a business strategy, until someone makes the case to me otherwise, is exceedingly weak.
"You know what will be good for our business? Getting our employees to do even more unsubsidized work for our clients than they already do!" Genius thinking there, leadership. It reminds me of when Homer Simpson just kept telling his team at Scorpio "uh, work harder!"
I have over 20 campaigns currently in my portfolio and only 3 were proactive. Also, the proactive ideas were all bought by clients who then paid for production and paid for media.
I've never understood why people can't do great work for their clients during the day and then spend time with their families in the evening.
I don't buy into the idea that mediocre client work is your day job and award-winning proactive work is your night job.
Maybe this is against the grain but I expect proactive ideas from myself, and want to work with people who demand the same of themselves. Probably because that’s the only way I’ve ever gotten anything good made. And to me that’s the fun part; I used to work in finance and being able to think of ideas isn’t killing myself it’s the whole reason I love what I do.
If any ACD art directors out there are of the same mindset, I’m looking for a partner at an agency in NYC. DM me your book!
Agee. But I also owe most of my career to the after hours ideas. And it’s paid off. So I don’t blame anyone for not wanting to do them, but if you’re up for it, often it’s worth it
Rising Star
Sounds brutal. I’ve never been asked about that stuff in an interview.
Selling more ideas to clients means… more money.
People who sell these ideas get… more money.
Not that complicated.
I think proactive ideas don’t work for most people. But when they do work, you can build a career off them.
In a way proactive work is the way to succeed. It’s just that 99% of the time it doesn’t work.
Pray you are the 1%.
Now your boss has 100 creatives churning proactive so they are always that 1%.
Agree. Pray to be the 1% and you're set for life.
By proactive ideas, I think of adding extra, not asked for ideas to a deck. Then the client sees them, hopefully likes them enough to pay for and produce. Not “I’m going to film a commercial tonight and hope they buy it”
I was told I wasn't able to get a promotion because I wasnt thinking of enough off brief ideas. 🤷🏻♀️
It can work if you’re good and the ideas make strategic sense.
We do it whenever the ideas come to us. Just keep it super simple and don’t spend a lot of time blowing it out until they buy it. Clients appreciate it.
We end up making 3-4 a year.