My AD keeps presenting their writing during presentations. It's not good. A CD straight up stopped one presentation and asked me why I put that line in there cause it was that bad.

I'm tired of my partner overstepping and it reflecting poorly on me, what's the best way to get them to stop and not be seen as mean? The AD is well liked by the agency, I'm newish.

likefunnyhelpful
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This is a symptom of a team that concepts separately. Stop concepting separately.

likesmart

Great point

Art directors write. Deal with it. And usually if their writing it means the writer isn’t, or not enough, or waiting too long.

likesmart

AD1 one example is writers making comps and putting them in a deck. The other is receiving feedback from a CD who happens to be copy based.

How are you conflating these two things?

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Before the next presentation, tell ‘em you’ve done the comps this time. Then slip this into their Google slide.

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likefunny

This is embarrassingly close to my comps

funnylike

“Do you think you’re a writer? Well

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likefunny

The CD’s comment should’ve been enough. Remind your partner of that the next time they insist on including copy that isn’t as good as yours.

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Mention “was that an update to the copy doc ol’ partner?”

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The CD’s comment should’ve been a clear warning to stop what they’re doing. It’s possible they scrambled and panicked and did edits on the fly…Not condoning this at all, it’s a red flag, especially if they didn’t run it by you…but in crunch time some people go on auto pilot.

I’d also make sure you two schedule time to look over copy and AD and provide each other feedback. That way you’ll both feel comfortable with what you have at the end of the meeting.

Worst case scenario, you ask your teammate for the pdf of the deck and send a follow up email saying thanks, here’s our stuff for reference. Maybe make a habit of doing that before your teammate does it again?

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Looking over work together doesn't necessarily mean y'all will be on the same page. There are clear lines..if copy sucks its on the copywriter. Folks try to blur lines during work but when its time for accountability they reappear.

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My writer says I have about one good line a month and when I say it he’s like “ok that was your one for the month!” Lol

likefunny

OP, have a side conversation with your CD and let them know what happened to CYA. Then, have a conversation with your partner that makes it clear when it comes to copy, you have the final say. You’re open to their input and ideas. But, if you don’t think it works, it doesn’t make it in the deck. Also let them know that if it happens, you’ll be sure to give credit where credit is due good or bad.

likehelpful

Maybe encourage the AD to channel their writing more into their Mad Men fan fiction?

But seriously, someone else already suggested that you two need to concept as a team, not apart. If they are changing the copy somewhere between your collaboration and the presentation, you should have an honest talk about that. They likely have CD ambitions.

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No one is implying that the AD can’t come up with the ideas or is the executional monkey. All we’re saying is, perhaps trust that your CW has better intuition around writing as that is their primary discipline.

As for SD1, copy and art are a team. Art need not give “copy general direction.” Trust me, most of us can get there on our own. And Copy doesn’t need to prove that they’re the better writer. The name is literally in the title. If this is not the case in your partnership — yes, that’s a different story.

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Why are they writing to begin with?

Are they changing your lines or writing their own lines? If their own, what are they writing lines to, their own concepts?

Ask them. That'll help.

Tell them you gotta vet copy. It's your neck.

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Have you tried telling them it’s not cool and needlessly making you both look bad? I’d just be direct about it.

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Set a block of time in both of your calendars to go over the copy with him along w the mock-ups/templates. During the meeting set a time to have everything done, offer to help him if he needs it, and ask for a PDF of the deck 30 mins to an hour before the presentation. If he doesn’t send you the deck… then you play hardball.

Then you send the copy doc via email (before or after presentation) and CC the CD/PM on it, within the email ask him to attach the deck that was/is being presented.

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OP, was he on the hiring committee when you interviewed for this role?

Ask to work with a different AD. No one at your company wants this partnership to go on. Not the AD, not your CD, not the Resource Manager, and if the work is all wrong, not your Client.

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How are you just seeing the copy/comp in the meeting? Seems like a communication breakdown my partner and I talk constantly over chat and work off the same google doc or slides. There’s no way he wouldn’t notice if I changed one of his lines right before a presentation lol

But if there’s copy I need shortened or adjusted for a design reason I always ask or tag him before changing. Doing the design and copy would be way to much work!

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He drops it in right before the meetings. I have the Google slide history receipts.

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I think it may be time to cut bait

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How TF do they have time to do your job?! I don’t even have enough time to do my own.

They mostly drop gifs into decks. That's it. Their job as an AD.

funny

My profile has not been updated since I was in studio - just rejoined today... but everywhere I've been the AD also writes, comes up with ideas, and often gives copy a general direction to work with what they're doing.

If your AD thinks they can write better copy then you need to prove this to be wrong or write better copy. It may be harsh, but I consider myself a decent writer and still defer to my writer. So if they're stepping over you unjustly, they either need to be put in their place or you need to write better words.

This may have come across wrong but this is not how I go about my partnership, again - I said I still defer to my writer no matter what, but if your AD is consistently doing this, they need to be put in their place (sometimes new industry folks don't know any better) or you need to prove to them their writing is dogshit. There's a reason one way or another as to why they're behaving the way they are - maybe it's you, maybe it'a them but something needs to change either way.

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Hahahahah this is funny. People don’t talk no more all they do is bit$h on fish bowel.

Rewrite and provide theirs as an alt or explain why you removed it. Easy.

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