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Ok, so what’s a content creator?
Would you work 11-8 shift?
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The client loving it doesn’t mean it was a good idea. Are you sure you weren’t fighting to present the idea they want, rather than the idea they need?
Your team liking the work is more important than the client liking the work. Pushing client friendly ideas is how bad advertising gets made.
Interesting- you guys have been burned by some Strategists in the past, huh? For the record, this was an Insight/Concept that Creative and Strategy felt passionate about, but the Account lead tried to kill for being “too risky.” Turns out it wasn’t too risky for the client after all...and the end result has the potential to be way more compelling than the safe approach.
Yeah, put me down for “I doubt this.” Your original post made it sound differently, and this angle only came about real quick after the above comments. I’ve got whiplash.
Planners and clients tend to unanimously love mediocre ideas because they look safe and check boxes. Maybe yours is not one of them. Maybe your taste is a lot more sophisticated than anyone’s on your team. But I wish some planners on my team stopped doing what you just did.
I love every comment in this thread
I totally read your comment as you fighting against the safe idea to present something risky that the client ended up loving. Interesting that the immediate comments were that you were fighting for the safe client friendly idea, or that the client liking the idea somehow made it then the bad idea? Lame. But I got it and I get your issue. After the meeting did the nay sayers celebrate as though they had something to do with its success?
Funny reading this thread. A lot of assumptions were made that apparently were wrong about the poster.
I’ve had four major campaigns in my career, that were killed by ECDs who thought “this type of client will never buy that.” But that then for some bizarre reason we’re resurrected and presented to the client, and against everyone’s expectations,and all odds, the clients bought really good work.
You know, we could have had exactly this conversation a decade ago—in fact, I’m pretty sure I did and, come to think of it, further back than that. What I think you see here, writ large, are the deep cultural difference between clients and agencies. They think we calibrate more around the internal—did my CD/ECD buy it, did my team like it, will the judges award it?—and, when you read the above, it’s hard to gainsay those perspectives, We, in turn, think they’re mostly risk-reluctant, focused on their own internal politics, career-first, and generally a creative hurdle to be overcome rather than an enabling partner—and, flip a coin, there’s often truth there as well. I happen to think the schism can be bridged, but that’s for another post: what’s relevant here is to understand the implications of this long division—distrust, mutual creative frustration, progressively shorter relationships, and, of late, the drive toward mandatory co-creation as part of the process. Not saying they’re wrong and we’re right or vice versa so much as saying this reality, especially when added to a toxic cocktail
...that also includes a huge dose of lousy economics and and you see why the long term industry prognosis is a shade bleak.
Well the way you posted it, it sounded like the only one who wanted this idea to go through was you... also you said you wish your team had your back. That makes it sound like the creative department wasn’t onboard with this.
If the “account lead” was the only one trying to kill it, then that means it’s not that you wish the team had your back, it’s that you wish this one person, the account lead, did. Either way, congrats on pushing on the win!
This is an interesting thread
You know something is good based on how much it divides people. The work I do that everyone loves 100% is also the stuff than never ends up in my book.
Fair- could have been worded better. The truth is, the best pitch team is a unified front; even if everyone in the room isn’t 100% comfortable, they should trust their teammates’ respective areas of expertise. Just didn’t get that feeling of team alignment on this one/felt that it took a lot of (internal) fighting to just get the chance to present something different.
Take the W and move on. Many times in advertising you will not feel like your entire team supports you - the nature of the business... or dare I say, any business!
All the fucking time