There’s no end to reasons why good ideas end in the conceptual scrapyard in the sky. The clients may be creative, they may be keen, they may even have approved the idea – but, by the time that the audience gets to see it, more often than not, it is so watered down that it is unrecognisable from the brand agency’s original idea which everyone was so enamoured with.
Why?
The
truth is that great advertising doesn’t only require a great team of brand
developers. It also needs a great client. Amazing ideas which can make a
product or service succeed are all well and good but unless the client remains
committed to its execution, every step of
the way, the end result can be worse
than
having no idea at all.
One
of the challenges to keeping a new idea alive is that, by its nature, that idea
is different. And different isn’t always comfortable. It represents the
unknown. But that’s why a good agency will have designed that idea to land
smack in the middle of its desired target market. As Bill Cosby said, "I
don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please
everybody." So yes, the idea may be
risky or controversial but if it resonates with your core market, the job is
done.
Another
(in)famous idea killer is budget. Agencies understand times are tight but
clients should also realise that cutting marketing costs is precisely the wrong
thing to do in such times. If an idea is on-brand and an objective is
quantified, realistic budgets cannot be reduced, without the idea running out
of steam before it makes it to the consumer. Pffffft!
Then
there’s implementation by committee. Imagine a concept is made out of play
dough. Short of having a Steve Jobs-like visionary gingerly shepherding the
idea to market, if the concept is
handled by too many people, it will end up formless, shapeless and meaning not
much to anybody instead of a lot to a few.
At
Your Brand Agency, it’s our passion to see great ideas come to life, not for
own sakes, but for the sakes of our clients, their brand, products and services.
To realise a concept’s full potential, to make a difference in market, ideas
must be owned. Again, not by the agency. By the client. By creative individuals
in the client’s marketing departments. We need these people to nurture their
idea, to coax from it glorious life, and resist the urge to twist into
something amorphous.
Be
bold, clients. Be resolute. Stand by your budgets. Stand by ideas. Protect the
ones you love. Own them. They are yours, after all.
Because
if you won’t fight for them, who will?
Hilton Alexander Rose
Your Brand Agency | Director
Skype: hilton293