Beautiful people. Romance. Lots of color and lights. In 2012, our international jewelry client requested a video that would drive moviegoers to nearby retailers to purchase their engagement and wedding rings, so we captured the magic of that “just engaged” feeling in a euphoric 30-second spot. After an overnight shoot and painstakingly long hours in the edit bay, the client was thrilled, and we as an agency were incredibly proud of our work.
But the video, despite all its pizzazz, was a huge flop — because it failed to move the needle. And that fact, painful as it was, spurred some major introspection.
I’ll be honest: It was tempting to blame the client. After all, we gave them exactly what they asked for. But once the dust settled, it became clear that the blame fell on us, their agency. As the co-founder of a brand agency, it’s my job to ensure that everything we do is effective in achieving the client’s ultimate objectives, and we fell short.
Our first mistake was thinking that making something beautiful was our only responsibility. And because we thought only about making something beautiful, we didn’t examine the client’s proposed rollout plan critically or bring our experience and expertise to bear to help refine that plan. The spot ended up playing a full 10 minutes before the previews began, making it nearly impossible that anyone would remember it after the film was over. Ultimately, we spent a lot of time and money on a project that lacked a strategic plan — a plan that we could have helped shape — and that set us up for failure.
From that experience, we developed a mantra that we still use today: We make work, not art.
Because it’s usually not enough to make something pretty. What really matters to us — and what helps form the DNA of our agency — is making great work. And this requires making a statement on behalf of our clients, rather than just making a statement on our own behalf. Great work represents our clients’ points of view and appeals to their target audiences, instead of reflecting our own aesthetic preferences. Don’t get me wrong — the work we make can be (and is) pretty. But reaching this understanding has allowed us to define greatness based on the impact we’re able to have.
Here’s what I think making great work looks like in practice, as illustrated by MailChimp’s fabled “Did you mean MailChimp?” campaign in 2017. As reported by Entrepreneur, the goal was to introduce the marketing automation platform to small- and medium-size business owners. Apparently, the company and the advertising agency it partnered with felt that getting this audience to really take notice required an unconventional approach, so they developed creative that embraced “MailChimp” mispronunciations in unexpected ways. They then went to where the company’s audience hangs out, entering the film, music, fashion and food spaces with the offbeat work. My favorite part of the campaign was FailChips, the crushed potato chips that were actually produced and distributed in stores to some unsuspecting snackers. Each and every thing that the company delivered, strange as it might have been, was sharply targeted and deliberately deployed. And this resulted in the campaign reaching 334 million people.
Another favorite example of mine is Patagonia’s “Don’t buy this jacket” ad in 2011, which encouraged consumers to recognize the environmental impact of consumerism — and discouraged buying new products unless they’re truly needed because of it. This ad appears to have struck a chord with an environmentally responsible audience that appreciated the brand’s higher purpose. Is Patagonia purely altruistic? Of course not. In fact, the company’s “buy less” marketing likely played a major role in increasing the brand’s sales by almost a third in 2012, according to Bloomberg (paywall). But it also probably established and reaffirmed brand loyalty among those looking to align with socially responsible companies and prompted members of the general public to assess their consumption habits — which is undeniably moving the needle, Patagonia-style.
Here’s how you can make great work for your clients:
1. Lose the ego. The work that you do isn’t about you — it’s about the client and what you can do for them. Consider how you can best serve their needs.
2. Remember that it’s not all about the ‘what.’ It’s also about the ‘why.’ Don’t just take objectives at face value. This is about what your client wants to achieve, so ask the right questions to find out why their objectives are important to them, in order to pinpoint what really matters.
3. Understand the target audience better than your client. Ultimately, it’s people who move the needle, so get to know what your client’s audience thinks, how they feel and why they make the decisions that they make — and then use those findings to shape your work.
I’m not saying it’s easy, but I believe that truly making an impact requires creating work, not art — and I’ve found that it’s a worthy endeavor, every time.