Clients Hate Advertising, Part Two
If clients don't like advertising why do they come to ad agencies?
Story.
They want you to tell them what their story is.
Then they want you to tell that story to the public.
Until a client has a story they believe in you're wasting your time trying to sell them ads.
They can get ads from their brother-in-law for an extra turkey wing passed under the table at Thanksgiving.
What's hard to get is a good story.
What is a client's story?
This is where advertising gets fun.
Story isn't definable.
Story is different for each situation.
A client's story is what the president of the company tells his kids when they ask him what his company does.
A client's story is the accumulation of everything the 15 different product managers have forgotten since they read the founder's bio on the HR pamphlet their first day of work.
A client's story is what the public thinks of the client's company minus two times their worst advertising.
A client's story can't be predicted, can't be faked (or at least not for long) and both does and doesn't work like this:
A client's story is what the maintenance people who clean their offices could tell you about the company in one sentence, but the marketing director couldn't find with both hands in a 5 page memo.
A client's story is what Steve Jobs knows about Apple that whoever had his job when he was away making Pixar didn't.
A client's story can be a person who isn't alive. (Orville Redenbacher)
A client's story may be hidden from the people who run things at a company by people at the company who they haven't treated well.
A client's story may be in the past, the present or the future.
A client's story may be so obvious you don't think to feed it back to the client. A client can be as blind to their story as some beautiful women are to how beautiful they are. Conversely, there are clients so sure they know their story they resemble an ugly man convinced he is attractive who never hears he isn't.
A client's story may be a song no one remembers or a song no one has written yet, or a song no one relates to the company until you play it for them. It's easy to think a song is a client's story. It's usually not.
A client's story is easier to find than to tell. The high points of all good stories stand high. What does a good job of hiding is what exact part of the accumulated narrative to tell. Let jokes be your guide. The best jokes never contain any words or information that don't contribute to the laugh.
A client's story could have to do with the president of the company or the lowest paid employee on the salary list or with someone who never worked for the company.
A client's story may be a surprise to the client, the public, and the ad agency. (Frank Perdue)
A client's story is the one piece of creative an agency creative director can work on without pissing off the creatives in his group.
A client's story does not have a format.
A client's story doesn't have a billable job number attached to it.
None of the best things in life do.
Story.
They want you to tell them what their story is.
Then they want you to tell that story to the public.
Until a client has a story they believe in you're wasting your time trying to sell them ads.
They can get ads from their brother-in-law for an extra turkey wing passed under the table at Thanksgiving.
What's hard to get is a good story.
What is a client's story?
This is where advertising gets fun.
Story isn't definable.
Story is different for each situation.
A client's story is what the president of the company tells his kids when they ask him what his company does.
A client's story is the accumulation of everything the 15 different product managers have forgotten since they read the founder's bio on the HR pamphlet their first day of work.
A client's story is what the public thinks of the client's company minus two times their worst advertising.
A client's story can't be predicted, can't be faked (or at least not for long) and both does and doesn't work like this:
A client's story is what the maintenance people who clean their offices could tell you about the company in one sentence, but the marketing director couldn't find with both hands in a 5 page memo.
A client's story is what Steve Jobs knows about Apple that whoever had his job when he was away making Pixar didn't.
A client's story can be a person who isn't alive. (Orville Redenbacher)
A client's story may be hidden from the people who run things at a company by people at the company who they haven't treated well.
A client's story may be in the past, the present or the future.
A client's story may be so obvious you don't think to feed it back to the client. A client can be as blind to their story as some beautiful women are to how beautiful they are. Conversely, there are clients so sure they know their story they resemble an ugly man convinced he is attractive who never hears he isn't.
A client's story may be a song no one remembers or a song no one has written yet, or a song no one relates to the company until you play it for them. It's easy to think a song is a client's story. It's usually not.
A client's story is easier to find than to tell. The high points of all good stories stand high. What does a good job of hiding is what exact part of the accumulated narrative to tell. Let jokes be your guide. The best jokes never contain any words or information that don't contribute to the laugh.
A client's story could have to do with the president of the company or the lowest paid employee on the salary list or with someone who never worked for the company.
A client's story may be a surprise to the client, the public, and the ad agency. (Frank Perdue)
A client's story is the one piece of creative an agency creative director can work on without pissing off the creatives in his group.
A client's story does not have a format.
A client's story doesn't have a billable job number attached to it.
None of the best things in life do.
posted by Fenske at Sunday, September 23, 2007
21 Comments:
In "Purple Cow" Seth Godin states that "if a company is failing, it is the fault of the most senior management, and the problem is probably this: They're running a company, not telling a story."
Here's a true story. Today I was told that 'white vs. wheat' must be stricken from something I wrote (about bread). Was told it felt 'racial' to the client. I meant no malice when I wrote those words. I just wanted to say that there was a longstanding debate as to which bread was better - white or wheat.
This really happened, today. I am beginning to wonder what planet I live on.
damn fenske.
I hate that motherfucker Redenbacher.
Dear Anonymous,
You've used a pejorative noun as an adjective. Worse, a clichéd pejorative noun which shouts for emphasis without conjuring up for your audience an evocative or meaningful image. This is writing well below the standard set before in comments here.
Perhaps "I saw the popcorn man have relations with his mother and for that I dislike him" is a sentence structure which comes closer to the intent of your statement. As it burdens you with having to prove what you've said about Mr. Orville, however, I cannot say I envy you either your conscience or your eyes, depending on which way you make your report.
"Who cares?" I hear you think.
"I said 'motherfucker', that's what's cool" I hear you go on.
Yes. You did. And it lays there like a fish not legal to keep stays dead on the bottom of the boat without a whisper.
I speak not against profanity.
I admit to its virtues.
But, dear students, appearing in print is not one of them.
Dear Anonymous Bread Writer,
I doubt it will be the last time a better sentence is jettisoned in favor of one made stupid by client stricture. The beauty of this business, though, is that unlike a 1st baseman who cannot retrieve the ground ball he has let through his legs, it is the work for us of only a few minutes to write another line to replace the one which was dismissed.
Of course you are right to mourn the loss of your most favored lines, and of course it grates on the soul to have one's brightest lights turned dim by what often seems a dark & unknowing soverign.
But, at this October date when the name of Bill Buckner still causes goose bumps to rise in the throat of all BoSox fans, I hope it is not ungenerous to point out how lucky we are in our jobs to be able to retrieve the errant ball (or headline) and--even if it isn't a mistake by the lights of heaven--still be able to tag out the runner.
I don't mean to make less of the damage done to work by changes made by hands not as proficient in the conjuring of magic as ours, but it's been my experience that I've been saved more often by the chance to do over than I have been fully stymied by the "you can't do that".
Either way, I believe a lack of certainty concerning which planet we're on can't help but improve one's grip on its surface.
Let us celebrate those few clients who have said and will say, "I don't know my story. Let's discover it together."
Alas, there have been few in my career.
So often we pursue the next clever campaign and ignore the story in front of us. Thanks for the reminder.
Mr. Corrigan, your stampkit.com site is cool.
Fenske, I really like your diagram. Did you come up with it? Can I use it for a t-shirt?
Today, a complete stranger will attempt to sell my TV script and web idea to a beer client we shall remain nameless.
Today, Nate, you also had a quote hit the quote wall about nipple hair. Some may say this quote tells a lot about your story.
After thinking about your post for a while, the phrase "natural storyteller" kept rattling in my head.
Do you think that storytellers are born or made?
If they can be made, how do they get honed? Reading McKee's Story? Typing, experimenting, failing? Reading Booker's The Seven Basic Plots? Or is it not found in books but in the process of telling a story?
I think Story has evolved considerably in the past couple years, in terms of Who tells it and How it gets told. Yes, story is the crux, the core. But the methods of storytelling are incredibly different now. Here's a slightly older blog post I wrote on the subject:
http://usefullunacy.typepad.com/useful_lunacy/2007/06/stories.html
I believe the best tellers make thier stories up as they go. That's how you know if you're a good story teller. If you can do that. Kerouac wrote On the Road by taping hundreds of sheets of paper together so it made one long sheet and started typing. He typed from his gut. He told his story. I'd bet his story evolved as he typed it. When asked why I'm returning something at Target, you wouldn't believe some of the tales I've come up with at the last second. Now I'm not putting myself on the level of Kerouac, but as far as storytelling goes, I think the principle is the same.
With the age old complaint about clients changing potentially great work, would you guys say behind every great creative team is a great account person to sell the client the idea?
BTW - marahaahaa, from what i've noticed most real life stories aren't that fascinating without a little stretch and shade of the truth. I think liars make great story tellers.
Did you make that graphic yourself?
CPA Test Review
When are we going to get a new post? Come on, Mark.
Fenske.
This may be something you enjoy.
http://www.yhchang.com/DAKOTA.html
All the best.
Brandau
I miss Fenske.
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