Advertising agencies and professionals often lay claim to their award-winning work, and sometimes it’s important to think through what we’re really getting across. Because great communication is driven by true, meaningful insights about the people you’re communicating with. A lot of mediocre thinkers look at insightful ads and communications, and tend to think of insights as something that come out of a 50 minute brainstorming session. That or they think they’re “creative” enough to think them up on their own in even less time (thats what creativity is, after all…right?).
You’re doing yourself a huge disservice if you think you can connect with an audience or consumer that way. Unfortunately, the idea is far too common. And it’s reinforced with these “awards,” doled out by people who have made a career thinking the exact same way.
It’s like, hey – if those professionals think it’s good, it must be…right?
Shouldn’t we be thinking differently about what makes an ad or other communication good? I mean, we’re supposedly communicating with someone…why aren’t they judging?
And the truth is that they absolutely are. And now more than ever, with all the communication tools social networks offer. Blog posts referencing YouTube videos. Links being shared. Lines being referenced in primetime comedy.
I think what I’m getting at is that it’s extremely easy to come up with what we think will connect with people. And not too much harder to convince similar thinkers that we’re producing great work. But we should be talking about our accomplishments in terms of insights, not awards. Because thats exactly what the people we’re talking to are doing with their friends.
Filed under: Criticism, How I Think | Leave a Comment
Tags: accomplishments, awards, industry, measurement
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