Building Bridges

In interviews, I'm often asked what I'm looking for in a position. And amongst other things (a strategic plan to make it through the recession, open-mindedness about product innovation and business solutions in the place of/in conjunction with advertising as a solution, etc) I've been talking about collaboration. And I'm not just talking about a collaborative environment where planners want to talk to each other and work together. I want to know what creatives are working off of my brief, and have, if not an ongoing conversation with them, and open, healthy relationship. I feel that in a perfect world, planning would be considered the first part of the creative process and thus be an opportunity for collaboration. 

I recently had the chance to discuss this viewpoint with a copywriter, and though we disagreed on some points, we both agreed that the idea is king. I absolutely think that if a great idea communicates to our target and gets them thinking about our brand, it's successful, even if the brief had noted a different direction. (Of course, it must still meet the client's objectives, blah blah blah you get the idea). But what exactly that means to each of us is different. To me, it means that a creative idea could come feasibly from a planner, and that the strategic direction can inspire a creative as a jumping off point. For the copywriter, it means that when you get the brief you should use the facts given and consider the target, and use that as inspiration to begin the creative process. He feels the strategy is formed in the creative idea itself. They are a part of each other and inseparable. The role of the planner is to act as a sounding board and confirm that the idea can be backed by research and fit the client's needs. Now I'm sure some of our disagreement was caused by semantics but I think that generally speaking, our viewpoints are somewhat representative of our roles within the industry as a whole--there's definitely friction between planners and creatives in many agencies.

While speaking with Rod, a copywriter from Fallon's glory days, he brought up such a great point for mitigating interdepartmental friction that I had to write it down: Make it known that you're in it for the same thing. Sure, there's more at play--everyone wants to keep their job, save face, get promoted, win awards, etc. There's a number of motivations for the things we do, but if we can all recognize that we're in it for the same thing--to help our client's business and make great advertising--it will undoubtedly be a smoother road. Creatives will "back into" strategies that are more successful by leaps and bounds than what the planners suggested and us planners need to recognize that success and support the campaign. Planners will present great creative ideas that creatives will find they couldn't improve upon if they spent weeks trying, and they too need to celebrate that success. It's all a team effort. A client doesn't care who came up with the idea. To the client, we are The Agency and whatever The Agency presents is what they know. They don't know, or care, who came up with idea, just that The Agency stands behind it. Why shouldn't we all?

Remember this race? They needed just a few seconds of running together. That's all it takes. Instead Team USA failed to make a successful pass and they were unable to finish.

Now I know this post is probably  pretty clearly written from the planners point of view and there's probably a faux pas or two in here, but I wanted to get this idea across. We're hired to do one thing. Now let's do it, together.