We’ve all thought it. How did a group of people sit in a room and say to each other – “yeah, that’s a good idea.” With two recent examples coming from government, you’re not alone in asking.
Recently, the Governor’s Highway Safety Office came under fire for a campaign designed to curtail drunk driving. The multi-media effort wanted to get the audience’s attention by comparing drunk driving to other bad decisions made with impaired judgment after drinking. Unfortunately, a number of their examples were also sexist as they sought to connect with young males, the campaign’s primary target.
In another case – now infamous as well as ubiquitous – the state decided to create a new logo to brand all state government departments and offices. But far from being provocative, the result was so pedestrian that it’s the $46,000 price tag that got the attention.
While the outcomes were decidedly different, both could have avoided the pitfalls with better management of the creative process.
Because it can be subjective, creativity – in the form of advertising, content, visuals or even events and presentations – needs to be grounded in clear objectives.
Without them, your efforts may miss the mark because the discussion will gravitate toward what people like, or worse, what they’re comfortable with. With them, you empower the creators, giving them freedom to add value, making your marketing compelling as well as clear.
A good way to start is always with a brief. It can be extensive or straight forward, but it should be clear and agreed upon. Common elements to include:
Audience: who are you talking to?
Message: what do you want to say?
Channels: how do you intend to reach them, in a way that they will welcome?
Outcome: what do you want them to do?
Parameters: budget, essential information, alignment with brand, etc.
For me, the new state logo seemed to be a case of “creative by committee.” Rather than setting clear objectives and then letting creative ideas blossom, it’s likely that the parameters were set and changed along the way until such time all the interesting ideas were bled from the process.
As for the Highway Safety campaign, they did a better job of setting objectives and allowing creativity. In fact, I thought a number of elements were quite good. But they failed to evaluate some of the elements in the context of their mission and values. They want to connect with the audience, not simply pander to it.
With clear objectives, you have a shared understanding to evaluate and measure effectiveness. Rather than water down ideas to be safe, you want to:
Resonate with the audience … will they care?
Get your point across in an impactful way … will it work?
Push ideas further to be more compelling … can we do better?
Be sure you’re consistent with your tone … is this supporting our overall brand?
By establishing your objectives and setting the parameters for creative review early, you can step back and let creativity flourish … and create great marketing.