Good advertising is part of popular culture. Consumers increasingly demand that advertising play a meaningful role in their overall news/reference/entertainment media experience. Customers have the ability to shape their media input now, increasingly picking and choosing the advertising to which they are exposed. If your advertising isn’t involving, if it isn’t expressed via an engaging brand persona, it isn’t really advertising.
Live in the future. We are big believers in the power of planning. Time is everything when you’re trying to come up with the greatest idea ever and execute it well, but time is hard to come by if you can’t predict what’s coming your way. Planning is the #1 ally of great creative work.
Carry the ball. Marketing directors are the busiest people on earth. Organizing the advertising process for our marketing directors frees up time and mind space they desperately need to cover all their other bases. They don’t have to know everything that’s going on with the advertising. They just have to know we know.
No guessing. There’s no reason to shoot in the dark and hope your message and media strategy is right. If you do your homework, you’ll always find the right path. We take great pride in showing you the why behind everything we do.
Think campaigns, not ads. One of the most common pitfalls in advertising is trying to say everything in every ad. Not only is this unnecessary, it is counterproductive. Brands can offer multiple entry points to consumers, any one of which can lead to interest and inquiry.
It’s only advertising. Seriously, nobody’s coming to us for brain surgery. We won’t be landing you on the moon. We do words and pictures. If you find yourself in crisis mode more than occasionally, we can help you tame the beast. There’s hardly ever such a thing as an advertising emergency (see Principle #2).
Make it look easy. We believe those who are the best at what they do make it look like no big deal. Think of Itzhak Perlman playing the violin, Meryl Streep inhabiting a character on screen, Willie Mays running down a fly ball. We can do this in our sleep (and often do).
Have fun. If you’re not having a good time working with your ad agency you might need some bright, positive new friends who make you so happy you feel like laughing. And you can go ahead and laugh because you know we’re dead serious about getting the job done. If your advertising people can’t brighten your day, what hope is there?
