Clients Get the Advertising They Deserve

In entertainment and traditional advertising, the story is the same.  Clients (internal or external) hire you to develop creative, but the path to the finished product is rarely the same.

While some insist you just take good notes and regurgitate their brilliance in a cohesive manner, others demand you search your soul for unique solutions.

While some always think they're paying too much, others are realistic about actual costs.

While some play guessing games, others are direct to a fault.

While some parcel out information like it was manna from heaven, others can't tell you enough.

While some believe creative should be beaten out of you, others like it to be a kumbaya experience.

While some treat creative development as a competition, others put all their eggs in one basket.

While some report to a committee, others are free to make decisions on the spot.

While some clearly don't understand the process, others know the landmines up ahead.

While some waffle, others trust their decisions.

While some thrive on crisis, others enjoy stability.

And while some really want fresh ideas, others are lukewarm about straying from the tried and true.

The truth is, your best work is always for clients who let you do your best work.

On the other hand...
When I was at Disney, there was an expression that went something like this:  There's never enough money to do a project, but always enough to redo it.

After exploration of different approaches, it invariably came down to a last-minute flurry of activity with late nights, second guessing, revisions of revisions, and mistakes.  No worries, though, the budget and delivery dates mysteriously changed (ah, Disney magic!), and the process was repeated.

At this point, we would just take notes, then drag the project across the finish line.  And vice versa.  Despite all the fire drills, we usually ended up a straight-ahead approach that was conceived in the early stages.  Even though we would lament "what could have been," the client was happy with the final product.

The upshot of this?  On subsequent projects, the self-censoring mechanism kicked in and we would primarily pursue more conservative concepts.  Clean.  Solid.  Spectacularly unspectacular.  And deservedly so.

Side note:  In my experience, the smaller the project, the tighter the budget, the less appreciative the client.  Corollary:  If you go out of your way to do a favor for a small client, you will pay for it.  Dearly. 

Although it's certainly a two-way street, a client's approach to advertising, working with creatives, ability to make good decisions, follow through, dealing with corporate infrastructure, and contact with reality are all directly related to the advertising they end up with.

They get what they deserve - good, bad, and in-between.

C'est la vie...

- Ed
edrothshow@gmail.com

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