What I learned from the big boys

Working at a large advertising agency for clients whose brands are household names, known all over the world, was a great experience. It’s taught me lessons too numerous to discuss in great detail, but lessons that have become part of what I know and who I am.

Perhaps the most important lesson is that effective marketing starts with sound strategic thinking. And sound strategic thinking starts with an in-depth understanding of the consumer, her needs, values, beliefs, likes and dislikes, and just about everything else floating around in her head. (And you can substitute the word “customer” in business-to-business situations – as long as you mean the end-user customer.)

Trying to sell stuff by writing catchy phrases and drawing interesting pictures isn’t good marketing. It’s a kind of scam that tries to divert people’s attention from what’s important to them. It doesn’t sell stuff either, because consumers are really smart. They know what they want and need, what it’s worth to them, and how to solve their problems when the perfect product isn’t available.

I tell my clients to start with the understanding of consumer behavior and perceptions, and then marry that to what they can deliver to develop a positioning statement. Translate the positioning into a marketing strategy, with clear objectives and solid metrics (so we’ll know how to measure success when it shows up).

Then I need a Creative Brief that tells me what the advertising (or the logo, or whatever) is supposed to do, the criteria you’ll use to evaluate it, and the effect you’d like to have it create among the target audience.

All of this sounds like a lot of foreplay to the development of creative advertising, I know. But I’ve learned from the big boys that the discipline it embodies is critical to the development of advertising that works.

I learned my lessons, and they’ve served me (and my clients) well. I don’t want to waste my time or my clients’ money on anything that isn’t going to work.