“Very few ideas are ‘new’, and no ideas are ‘bad’.”
That’s what I was told as a junior marketer in my first marketing post for db vendor InterSystems, and it has kind of stuck with me ever since. Maybe my ideas were poor and someone was being polite? I’d like to think not and think there is something very relevant in the statement.
But to my post.
Sellers and Rogers is a creative advertising and PR agency “whose culture is devoted to building, developing and sustaining brands” and they have two (yes two) volumes of creative ads that never made it.
Maybe their clients changed their plan? Perhaps the budgeted spend never materialised? Maybe the work was done speculatively in a creative pitch of some kind? Or perhaps some of the clients simply weren’t brave enough to go with what was recommended?
Who knows or cares - but either way, fair play to Sellers and Rogers. Their unused ads do see the light of day, as you can download them FREE.
I really think showcasing work that doesn’t go live is just as important as stuff that does. In fact I’d guess potentially the most effective work by marketing agencies usually goes unused because it actually stretches boundaries too far, or takes ’safety first’ C-Tier execs out of their over sized comfort zones.
So, if you are a prospective agency client looking at a portfolio of case studies, ask to see additional concepts or iterations of the creative execution. You’ll probably get a better feel for the agency, its capabilities and its likely effectiveness on your bottom line. You’ll certainly get a better idea of their ‘fit’ with your organisation.
And if you are a marketing agency, its a great idea to showcase work that was used AND work that was poo-pooed.
Filed under: Advertising, Design, Ideas and Riffs, Strategy, copywriting, ideas, marketing
Spot on Chris. There’s no doubt the best creative work never sees the light of day. In my experience the client is usually to blame. I’ve had countless great creative executions turned down by the marketing & legal directors for flimsy conservative reasons like, ‘We might offend someone’; ‘it doesn’t appeal to a broad enough target’ - you’ve heard them all. The ironic thing, is that the companies I refer to (my previous employers) pretty much invented marketing - like Gillette, P & G, Kraft foods. There’s a lot to be said for courageous marketing.
Steve