Campaign and Presentation Pointers

I was in a strange position just last week when I was asked to give a lecture about producing great campaigns and better presentations. I was greeted by a group of very interested future account managers, traffickers, creatives and business owners and I set about my own brand of madness to sell them the principles of good campaigning and presenting as I saw it. As I prowled and danced round the lecture hall I had the sounds of titters and giggles from the ladies as they witnessed either a breakdown or a very clever assessment of how creativity, business and common sense should all work together. I like to think it was the clever assessment but you can never quite tell can you?

As a creative I have always been interested in giving something back, this was one of those opportunities and if you are a designer or account manager out there today I would urge you to engage with the next generation of talent. Below are the notes I used during the epic 90 minute lecture and workshop.

Have a great team Putting the right people into a team is vital, when a campaign is produced you need the right balance of creative people and suits. This can be applied to almost any business team, creative people are your thinkers, ideas people and the suits are the ones who come across with the practical information, the grounding. However, remember suits and creatives can swop roles and often have skills that transfer – use these.

Put the right people in the right places There is no point getting a copywriter to produce the budget, this isn’t the strength they have been brought to your team for. However, if they have ideas about budget it’s worth a listen.

Leadership There must be a leader, somebody to make decisions One person makes the decisions and if there is a power struggle inside the team good management should deal with this swiftly, quietly and with dignity you will still need this team member later down the line.

Be prepared Starting a project when you haven’t got your brief, research or team decided can lead to problems including developing solutions that don’t fit or creating division in a team.

Ensure that the brief you have a as full as possibleIn the course of a career you will receive a project that has very little detail but these are dangerous, get information. Information is powerful, it allows you to go to the project with the knowledge that your solution can fit to. If your brief lacks information go to the client/service and find out all you can. At the same time if a campaign brief is too tightly fitted then you might have nowhere to go and the campaign will never get any traction, therefore you must negotiate openings with the client or service to ensure the brief is open enough.

Basically, if the brief doesn’t work or will fail to deliver the right results for the client product or service then it needs rewriting and they need to understand why.

Good research Find out what’s happening in your clients/products sector but don’t be restricted by this – also look at products outside that sector this will lead to positive campaign influence and don’t be afraid to use media that are considered unfashionable.

Forget others Don’t be hampered by what other people do, be true to yourself, the brief and the criteria, the client will always appreciate this and the work you produce will be better.

There is no such thing as a bad idea only ideas that do not fit the briefIdeas are ideas and somewhere they have a place but it might not be in this project. Remember get all the ideas pouring out, a project that only has one idea is a dangerous one. Remember that a great idea, the winning idea can come from the most junior member of the team, do not be afraid to accept this.

Be creative and dynamic ‘Seen it’, ‘they did this’, ‘I like this didn’t Coca Cola do that?’, ‘Couldn’t we copy Apple!’ I’ve heard them all. Be original in your campaigns, events, creative, you might hit upon the next great campaign that really touches. Clients and consumers are subjective, remember, somewhere, someone will hate what you do –  that’s okay. Interestingly you may think you haven’t got a creative bone in our body – you are probably wrong, ever dressed for a fancy dress party? painted a picture for your parents? Taken a photograph on you iPhone? Then you’ve got creative in you and that thinking can be a powerful ally when making dynamic appropriate campaigns.

Critique Good critique can go a long way to producing even better campaigns. Accept it.

Keep things simple If you over complicate a campaign it runs the risk of coming apart under that complexity. There can be very complex tactical and production elements but at the hub a great campaign is the simplest of ideas.

Environment Consider implications outside the brief, producing a logo for example is great but how does it work on a website, on billboards, in black. Is it a product of its time and will it last or need replacing very quickly, is it an obvious solution?

Ensure you know what your campaign will need to succeed. With the increasing diversity of campaign opportunities in social media and beyond this is increasingly important.

There must constructive conversation and dialogue A good campaign leader listens, keeps conversation going, even a the last minute a good idea can be change the focus of a campaign. Charles Saatchi while playing chess was presented with the phrase ‘the worlds best airline’ he reached across with a red marker scrubbed out the world ‘best’ and replaced it with ‘favourite’ then returned to his chess. This change gave British Airways it’s most memorable ever strapline and campaign.

Ready, steady, go When you present a campaign in be very ready – drill the team on their roles, be ready for questions, ready to deliver the messages and ready for criticism. Be prepared for all these things and importantly remember – you aren’t going into battle, listen to the client but defend and sell your campaigns. Prepare your presentation in appropriate media, if you choose digital always prepare something to leave behind and always prepare a printed backup – nothing worse than getting there to discover your iPad has no juice left. Your printed and digital material should also be well branded, not be in a vairiety of fonts, clear and concise like the oral presentation you are giving.

Be polished Never look like it took you 20 minutes to produce your campaign even if it did, the client must think they are they most important thing in your universe – regardless of their actual financial worth to you.

Introduce yourself Assume that the people in front of you have never before seen you, your business or what you have to offer. Even if they have it never hurts to remind them.

Product Talk about the product, consider your strategy, building pain and applying gain often helps to sell in a campaign, what is the client or customer missing and how do you and your product or service fill this need.

Conclusion Be concise about the benefits – three great points that are unforgettable

The Monster Inside Have a giant noise or something stupid that you can do infront of your team to amuse or let off steam, it’s brilliant … and finally have fun, campaigns are often stressful to produce but enormously good fun to be involved in.

The lecture was finished with a brief workshop getting the students to go through how they would market a new brand of T-shirt, where they would do, why they would do it there, what forms of communication they would use. Nobody fell asleep and I felt great.

Until next time …