Having your cake and eating it too

But the problem with the latter is that they are (sorry boys) overly skewed towards creativity, while strategy —- the main driver of marketing —- is very often given a very perfunctory nod. The industry is in fact so tunnel visioned about rewarding creative creative, that sometimes huge and expensive campaigns are hoisted on the basis of fantastic visuals, with alas, little regard for tangible ROI.

You would, of course, be right to argue that creative advertising has a far greater chance of achieving cut-through than your garden variety campaign, but the problem is that creativity for creativity's sake can often hijack real strategic objectives.

I'm going to be nice, and not name names here, but I will take liberty in dishing it out...

A truly spectacular set of TV commercials were commissioned recently by a prominent agency. It was a stellar undertaking in every sense of the word. It brought a brilliant team together made up of a well known film director, a highly respected DOP, an accomplished composer, real actors, costume designers, splendid locations etc ....all for a million plus American smackeroos.

The result was a cinematic triumph; breathtaking Oscar worthy stuff. Those blessed with a discerning eye for quality oohed and aaahed at the filming, editing, montage, music scoring and the myriad other thingummyjigs associated with this fine craft. The agency creative team lapped it all up, thrilled with their strong contender for the many regional and international awards that would follow.

The client, too, felt a certain pride — stroked by the ad industry— for the financial cahones it took to make it all happen. And so the client waited for the outcome. And they waited. And they waited. But the sales curve went up barely a blip. And it caused consternation among the marketing executives who found themselves uncomfortably sandwiched by the ad agency on one side and their investors on the other. 'Where had this formula for success gone awry?' they scratched their heads. Well, after months of evaluation-- and talking to their real users, their sales reps and their distribution guys-- it was clear that the fundamentals had been largely flouted.

The agency was so hell bent on 'creatively' going where no agency had gone before-- and dragging the client on this joy ride-- that they never stopped to get the strategy down. The campaign would have been great if things were different: different product, different positioning, different market segmentation, different messaging and different almost everything else.

Fortunately high ticket hare-brained schemes come with a gift to all: the opportunity to learn. Align the fundamentals, I say: the what, for whom, where, when and how—-and things should work out. Sometimes quite spectacularly if the strategy is really, really right. Then should you still decide to spend millions on fancy advertising, you'll at least know that it will hopefully have some positive impact on your raison d'etre.