There's a problem

Neither will I comment on the fact that only one agency was recently caught out. Awards exist; they are valued by agencies (and clients to some degree) and are just rewards for the Red Bull-assisted late nights. However, what it does indicate is that we often take our eye off the ball; our raison d'etre - which is to add value to our paying clients.

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Mary, Mary quite contrary

Mary Wells Lawrence was the first woman to be CEO of a company listed on the New York stock exchange. Interestingly enough, the company was an ad agency. I have used this quote before (see Einstein proved it, yet agencies don't do it), but with all the recent hullabaloo, it bears repeating:

"When a client comes to us with a product, he is, in effect, giving us a problem to be solved... Some of the biggest advertising mistakes are made by people who imagine they know what the problem is, or they're not even thinking about it; they're just coming up with that brilliant idea and trying to force the problem to fit it."

I'm going to dodge the bullet by stating that creative awards are worthwhile pursuits that are fun and rewarding. However, they also illuminate quite clearly what Mary Wells Lawrence warns us against: making our brilliant creative solutions force-fit the problem. So, what I am about to say next is probably very surprising: the fact that we force-fit our solutions, in the majority of cases, does not matter.

Problems, problems

The reason for this enigma can be found in the word 'problem'. When we take a brief from the client, it is seldom at the correct level. The client says "Here's what I want you to do", as opposed to "Here's the problem I want solved". Say for instance a client sees sales flagging sales for one of their product lines.

You get called in, not to solve the problem, but to do some advertising, which hopefully will solve the problem. No doubt your efforts will increase sales, but is it based on the correct assumption? Is advertising alone the right solution? In strategic parlance we would say 'are we operating in the right domain, i.e. is it just an advertising problem'?

Where oh where should we despair?

Perhaps our competitors have made their packaging brighter and better. Then the domain for the problem is packaging. Maybe forward share is down. Then the domain is a merchandising one. Then we need to ask why. Perhaps the competitor has revised their packaging; maybe they've introduced an exciting dispenser. Who knows? Well you should. You might be an advertising agency, but if you pride yourself on brand building, it is your responsibility to find the correct domain and then help to solve the real problem.

So, if you're in the wrong domain, you might as well force-fit your problem - the end result will probably be a lot more entertaining. Artistic if you like.