by
Bob Ragsdale
Outdoor is arguably one of the most difficult creative media to do well in. It has to be bold and concise, or in other words, brave and focused
Don't you just love bad outdoor advertising? The more bad outdoor I see, the happier I get. An outdoor execution is one of the single most telling pieces of creative. The strategic insights you can derive from it are amazing. In a single glance you can immediately assess the strategic abilities of the agency that created it, their grasp of the consumer, their ability (or inability) to lead the client, their creative thinking, production skills and standards. It's all there, wall to wall and tree-top tall. Outdoor is arguably one of the most difficult creative media to do well in. It has to be bold and concise, or in other words, brave and focused. Bravery and focus are built upon a solid platform of product, market and consumer understanding culminating in clear strategic objectives.
The ability to create clear strategies built on solid foundations is the hallmark of great communication companies. With so much talk about advertisements however, clients tend to loose sight of the myriad of skills that an agency can bring to the table. In a recent pitch, one of the clients stood up and said "What is this? Agencies do ads, not strategies." It's unique only because it's the first time that someone has actually stood up to say it. But we've heard it before. However, setting strategic objectives in concert with our clients is the core of what we do.
Having a strong strategic focus is a superb way to underline the added value that we as professionals lend to our clients. By understanding the clients' business as well as or better than they do, you become their advocate, partner and adviser. With this understanding you can question current practice, explore alternatives, reframe the landscape and lead clients to successful communication solutions. In short, you become part of their team and you cease to be a vendor. In the absence of such focus an agency becomes a production or media house whose only competitive edge is cost.
What client hasn't said in a blinding flash of the obvious "Let's think outside the box. We need a real breakthrough idea." It's true. We do need it. We want it. It's what we strive for every day when we come to work. We want that one incredible idea that bursts the boundaries of how we look at our world. An idea so great that it ultimately becomes part of our popular culture and forces all of our competitors to redouble their efforts to keep up. But visionary ideas don't just happen, they are themselves the product of vision. They are the product of strategies with clearly defined objectives which lead to concise, inescapable truths. Without clear strategic direction it's ludicrous to expect creative minds to consistently make intuitive leaps to great creative executions that resonate with consumers. A great ad requires a strategy that inspires.
Strategic objectives give direction and lend credibility to everything we say and do. Strategic inspiration expresses itself bold and in exciting ways. It's focused, it's concise and it's easy to spot. Likewise a lack of strategic focus is also easy to spot. It manifests itself in lower production standards and mildly intriguing executions and agencies that do ads instead of campaigns. It also surfaces when agencies fight for TV when point of sale is more appropriate or make recommendations based purely on cost instead of impact. A lack of strategic focus wastes time, money and resources.
Our strategic focus unifies each and every individual within Tamra/D'Arcy, both towards our clients business and towards our own. It has always been the basis of our success. In November, Tamra will no longer be an affiliate of D'Arcy, because to stay with the group doesn't make strategic sense to us. While the separation will impact our business, it is not necessarily a cause for concern. By continuing to focus more stringently on and growing towards our own strategic objectives we will be better positioned to serve our clients needs.
I have to admit that advocating good outdoor and touting the virtues of solid strategic thinking is fairly basic. But great creative comes down to simple truths. And just because is simple doesn't mean it's easy. If it were, there would be more great campaigns and good outdoor.
Good outdoor: bold and concise. Bad outdoor .. it's not our strategic objective.
GULF MARKETING REVIEW JULY 2001
About the Author
Bracco HPF is headed up by Bob Ragsdale, who in his previous posting served as Vice President with D’Arcy Middle East and was the Senior Account Director for the General Motors and Mars Inc. accounts.
