The hardest part of a creative brief isn’t the demographics. It’s not the competitive analysis. It’s not even the creative idea and all that’s going to be done to instill brand devotion in the audience. The hardest part is how we’re going to measure success.
I saw a funny card at the American Players Theater last night in the gift shop. It showed a CEO discussing a chart to a roundtable of people. The chart in place showed negative growth/a decline of success.
Barging in the door was a man with another chart showing positive growth/an increase of success. The statement underneath the image: Wait! Use this chart from the PR team.
The reason that scenario works is because no explanation of what success means was established from the start. What happens is the team and the client agree to do something interesting and then the PR team chooses to measure whatever worked in whatever way it worked. It’s a client-pleasing tactic.
PR Executives get away with it because they often delete the “How are we measuring success?” prompt from the brief. Answering it is risky. It’s far easier to see what works and ignore what doesn’t; easier to praise gaining 50 followers on Twitter, but ignore the unstated goal of engaging with 50 current followers on Twitter.
If we want to produce real value in our marketing strategies then we have to answer the question of how we will measure success in all we set out to do. Brands are driven by focusing on what works and dropping what doesn’t, but if we don’t know if something is working (we need measurement to know!) then we’ve succumbed to the blind leading the blind – not a profitable or connective marketing method.
Stay Positive & Well? What’s Success Look Like?
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