Monday, September 29, 2008
looking in all the wrong places
i think sometimes i've been trying to hard to find that data point to bring out an insight...a truth. if i'm working on a job that has the luxury of time, i'll get so caught up in scouring thru decks over decks digging, looking for that gem of an opportunity. lately though, the turn 'n burn 1-day projects that i've been working on doesn't really afford the time to get really smart. so, in my immersion into planning, i've had to think quick on my feet, be observant, be resourceful and be insightful w/o the benefit of research. so far, i've lucked out. is it dumb luck or is it that the clients don't really care or don't understand? or i'm i not looking in the right places? most of the time, i feel that i'm just putting a new shade of lipstick on the same pig. does it have to have a data point or some quantifiable research to tell the most compelling story possible for your brand? or is it more about having a simple and honest understanding of the brand and being able to communicate that in the most relevant and interesting way that no one else has done before you? to me this Levi's spot is honest. did the insight and truth come from research? or did it come from a basic understanding of the brand, the consumer and the culture? i admit, i've been busted once, maybe twice for looking... and observing. is it wrong? or is it part of my job to look in all the right places...to observe (thru all the nooks and crannies), understand and help communicate in the most compelling way possible? i'm so busted.
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7 comments:
The thing with this is. That sure its not often clients get planning but the realisation of the work we do is that we dont always get the best amount of time to do it. If you are like me and when you get too much time you often go slowly. Then it can often be a waste. This is something that has come up with the UK's IPA Strategy Group. They have an event called the Fast Strategy Debate. Which is quite interesting to see how different people address this.
I personally never stop searching / reading cataloguing things everyday. For me and for my colleagues and people around me. My delicious is always full of things I think could be useful at a later stage. As is my blog. I consistently collating (I heard the term from the last IPA event like a Magpie would). Then when you dont have the time you can access all the stuff you have saved or half baked already.
Is it as good as it could be... maybe not ?. I often think better under pressure. But its the context of our jobs. As technology continues to get better. We are expected to get faster. So although I always push for more time. I also try my best to adapt to the course in front of me.
Hope is was helpful.
Great blog
i'm divided over what you said and what mikej said.
i can only come to the conclusion that it's a bit of both and it's about "adequate" time.
too much time and the pressure isn't there to force the inertia away. too little and it's churn and burn baby!
@mikej: thanks for your thoughts. i really appreciate it. i think planners now have so much information available to them, right at their fingertips, that it can get overwhelming if you don't have a process down to access all of your catalogued info...quickly. i'm still learning. for me right now, it's like going from the gut, and sorting thru all the stuff that's floating around in my head.
@CJ: thanks for stopping by. adequate time is always appreciated.
The statement 'without the benefit of research" hits home for many of us far too often, am I right haha? I think that's a big reason I admire the idea of finding some tiny nugget of use out of everything we run into, as I think mikej was getting at in reference to delicious/his blog, etc. I think it's dead on - insights aren't necessarily things that are hidden somewhere in research, as if we looked in exactly the right place we might find them. Rather, the most insightful ideas are built from hundreds and thousands of bits of other ideas that are rather useless on their own but overwhelmingly powerful in concert.
For me, that is kind of a process - but like you were saying, time consuming. Those insightful moments that spark off in our heads for me come only after thinking about a problem in some X number of ways, and that can't always be done in a day. I totally feel you there.
As a follow up I had a spark for a client today just reading the morning paper. Random.
Hello.
Just discovered this blog - loving it.
Like mikej, I'm constantly on the look out for interesting stuff, storing it and jotting down half-formed ideas as a I go along.
Then from the moment I get the brief from the client I'll generate a few initial thoughts about possible directions and then go about trying to disprove them.
On the speed thing, Rory Sutherland and John Shaw use the analogy of the first 48 hours that investigators have at any crime scene as being just as crucial as the first 48 hours in which the agency receives the brief (check it out on WARC. It's called "true crime, toolkits and the big ideal").
@nickfell: hey there. thanks for your comment. question: are you collecting/jotting down those ideas in a journal or you keeping it all online? It's a great habit to get into, either way. eventually, the stuff that you have a lot of heart for sticks in your head the rest gets inventoried.
i really like your idea of formulating the initial idea and then go about trying to disapprove it. gonna give it a try.
btw, you ever notice people who can tell great stories at the bar, around the camp fire, over dinner? they're good story tellers cuz they have heart for it. they believe in it. we should be able to work the same way as well. collect/sort/build along the way, and when the right time comes pull from the stuff we have heart for and tell the story.
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