One of the interesting aspects of our job is the experience of meeting a wide variety of people, from all walks of life. People who usually have a great deal of knowledge about their particular line of work, but need some help from us to help sell their services to others.

Needless to say, we can only do this effectively if we can quickly grasp the essence of their business and determine what messages will need to be communicated to their target market, whoever they might be – from geeks   looking for new tech, lawyers looking for rich pickings, women in search of beauty, or fat folk looking for new waistlines. That’s just a few of the audiences we needed to reach in the last week alone.

How can we make this possible? It’s not copywriting, art direction, or graphic design, but something much harder to grasp and far more valuable – an idea. A creative concept, in our parlance.

For some reason, we have a really hard time persuading clients that we can’t really start on their project until we have one. We can’t start writing headlines, or body copy. We can’t create visual identity or think of an image that represents them. The idea is everything.  Starting work on any job without forming an upfront creative direction is like writing a novel without giving it any considered thought . Or, crossing the road without looking first.

I would have thought this was just commonsense. Assuming we have been well briefed, we need to take stock of what kind of company/product/people we’re dealing with and decide on the right approach. Very often, we find that existing marketing communications fail to capture the core truths about an organisation, or at least the most compelling reasons to believe what is being said about it.

It’s our job, as experienced professionals, to advise our clients and make recommendations. Writing words or making things look beautiful are easy, coming up with a brilliant creative concept that makes a client stand apart from all of their rivals and to grab the attention of their customers, now that’s hard.

The trouble is, most clients don’t understand this. And, because they don’t understand it, or grasp how important an idea is, they don’t want to pay for it.

I’m thinking of keeping my creative ideas up my sleeve from now on, on the opposite arm to the one I use to display fake Rolexes. If I can’t persuade anyone to pay for good creative concept, maybe I can try flogging them a dodgy watch.

Sadly, I think it’ll be a lot easier.

Posted by Ian Minter