Jacob Dutton

People have retreated to the edges of advertising. You know, they’re happy to do some small little campaign somewhere or they’re doing something on the net that hardly anybody sees and they’re getting awards for it and everybody’s cheering. But they’re not changing the way people feel or think.

TV advertising used to work like this: you sat on your sofa while creatives were paid to throw a bucket of shit in your face. Today you’re expected to sit on the bucket, fill it with your own shit, and tip it over your head while filming yourself on your mobile.

My box of ads became an active part of my advertising education. Most important, it helped me recognize “good.” Further, my definition of good was made up of verities, not trends. Good was not just cool. It was intelligent, beautiful, intrusive and more.

The Idea Charter is a simple one-page worksheet that creative teams fill out during concepting. It focuses on questions that help you evaluate the originality, shareability, and usefulness of an idea:

What’s the PR headline? - every idea should feel like news
Describe the idea in 140 characters - it should be easy to share
What problem does it solve? - stay focused on the business/marketing problem
What makes it original and shareable? - is it a creative leap? why would someone share?
Who’s the target? - who is the intended audience/user. stay focused on their needs
What makes it worthy of repeated views, vists, or uses? - why would they come back?
What do you want people to do after they leave? - great work inspires action

The research suggests 76 percent of agencies now provide strategic services, up from 59 percent in 2009. Only 16 percent of marketer clients surveyed, however, say they make use of them.” I’m not certain why that is, but my hunch would be that most agencies needlessly over-complicate their strategic counsel in the hopes of making themselves look like all-knowing wizards. Or perhaps, on the other side of the spectrum, clients aren’t making use of the strategic counsel provided because it’s not very good. Regardless of the reason, if only 16 percent are making use of it, few agencies will survive with that being their bread and butter.