Scope creep is one of the scariest things about running an ad agency. On the one hand, an agency wants your projects to be fluid, creative, and free to evolve. On the other hand, your agency wants to be paid when scope changes, usually because more of the agency's personnel time is involved.
Scope creep can sour relationships, if it is not completely out on the table, and the relationship between agency AE and client is not very comfortable.
What is scope creep? As an example, let's say you asked your ad agency to develop an ad for a magazine. You've written a creative brief and given the agency a budget and they get to work. Then you decide that you want the agency to evaluate other possible magazines in which to run the ad. This can be done, but of course requires time and personnel to research the magazines, evaluate the costs, write a report, the media people must educate the AE and then time must be set aside for the AE to present and discuss it with you, the client. That's scope creep: It's not a problem, as long as you're willing to pay for it.
Personally, I hate discussing money issues with clients. I much more enjoy discussing the possibilities of an amazing marketing project or communications idea. It's much more fun to dream about the phenomenal response a project will win, rather than dread confronting the client with a bill larger than they expected, even if it is due to the change and scope creep that the client has requested.
In the case of the above example, the AE should advise the client right from the get-go that it will take time and resources for the agency to conduct the requested research into other possible magazines in which to run the ad. Then, the client can decide if they want the scope to creep along with the budget.
My solution is put problem of scope creep right out on the table from the get-go. If the creative brief for each project is clearly defined and the budget is firmly approved, then scope creep shouldn't be a problem. If a project goes over budget due to scope creep and the agency is controlling the budget, then another project can be sacrificed to allow for scope creep and the amount of money being spent by the client should be the same.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Tip #13 ∞ Writing the Creative Brief ∞
This week, Ad Age Magazine magazine reported that a survey of ad agency executives said that confusing client-written RFPs and Creative Briefs can be the source of one of the biggest mis-communications and time wasters for agency personnel. Read it here .
The comments posted by agency people on this article were also very enlightening. In fact, one blogger, Steven Stark of Stark Raving Blog used the space to promote HIS clever illustration of this very problem: Creative Brief of the Sistine Chapel, from the Pope to Michealangelo.
I thought it was pretty funny. And, in the fun, there is more than a kernel of truth.
Anyway, the point is that if you want to get the most from your ad agency you need to give them very clear sets of goals and directions because advertising is an art, as much as a science. There are many, many, many different ways to interpret and use advertising for the benefit of the client and to achieve client goals: When it comes to creativity, there are no WRONG answers.
The most successful and acclaimed advertising creative work will break every known rule.
Think of the1956 Lemon ad for Volkswagon. Or the 1984 ad for Apple computer: It only ran one time, during the 1984 Super Bowl and didn't even picture a computer at all, yet is one of the most widely acclaimed ads of all time, from the world's recently ranked top brand (Apple). Here's an article about the ad by Ted Friedman who studied the ad as part of his dissertation on the cultural history of the personal computer, if you want to read more about it.
I believe that the Creative Brief, or RFP, should obviously be clear: a kind of road-map for the agency, but I also believe that if the client is already working with an ad agency, then it's OK to let the AE write the brief, after they have done their initial project kick-off meeting (See paragraph #7 in Tip #10 article: The agency process) with the client, as long as the Approval Process is being followed for that Creative Brief document, as discussed in Tip #7.
Once the Creative Brief is written and decided upon, it should become a road-map. If the ultimate destination changes, then the road map should change too: Scope Creep - maybe we'll discuss tomorrow in Tip #14.
The comments posted by agency people on this article were also very enlightening. In fact, one blogger, Steven Stark of Stark Raving Blog used the space to promote HIS clever illustration of this very problem: Creative Brief of the Sistine Chapel, from the Pope to Michealangelo.
I thought it was pretty funny. And, in the fun, there is more than a kernel of truth.
Anyway, the point is that if you want to get the most from your ad agency you need to give them very clear sets of goals and directions because advertising is an art, as much as a science. There are many, many, many different ways to interpret and use advertising for the benefit of the client and to achieve client goals: When it comes to creativity, there are no WRONG answers.
The most successful and acclaimed advertising creative work will break every known rule.
Think of the1956 Lemon ad for Volkswagon. Or the 1984 ad for Apple computer: It only ran one time, during the 1984 Super Bowl and didn't even picture a computer at all, yet is one of the most widely acclaimed ads of all time, from the world's recently ranked top brand (Apple). Here's an article about the ad by Ted Friedman who studied the ad as part of his dissertation on the cultural history of the personal computer, if you want to read more about it.
I believe that the Creative Brief, or RFP, should obviously be clear: a kind of road-map for the agency, but I also believe that if the client is already working with an ad agency, then it's OK to let the AE write the brief, after they have done their initial project kick-off meeting (See paragraph #7 in Tip #10 article: The agency process) with the client, as long as the Approval Process is being followed for that Creative Brief document, as discussed in Tip #7.
Once the Creative Brief is written and decided upon, it should become a road-map. If the ultimate destination changes, then the road map should change too: Scope Creep - maybe we'll discuss tomorrow in Tip #14.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Tip #12 ∞ Define and Enforce Your Logo Standards ∞
I once had a large commercial bank marketing manager ask me and tell me, "Can you reproduce my logo on a sign? You wouldn't believe how many people mess up our logo."
I went on to demonstrate, with my team, that we could effectively reproduce her logo perfectly, for the next four years, until the bank was gobbled up by a competitor. During the four years we worked together, my team put the logo on invitations, signs, banners, websites, videos, brochures, folders, stationary, and a bunch of other things.
For this client, we started with one logo and moved into another one, after the bank was merged with its parent company and adopted a new logo standard.
The bank hired a graphic designer to help design the logo and write the logo standard. The logo standard document was very helpful as it explained exactly what to do and what not to do with the logo in order to maintain its trademark/registration status.
Now many of our smaller clients, don't think twice about their logo - they'll use it in a variety of colors, with 3D embossing, on colored backgrounds, sometimes with a tagline, sometimes not. Add a line of type here and there, what's the big deal?
The big deal is that if you don't enforce your own logo standard, the U.S. court system says that there is no logo standard and anyone can use your logo: Something like that. Now I'm not a lawyer and here at GWiz, we design logos and write logo standards for clients, but we don't register them with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office: We hire a lawyer to do that.
Once you do decide on your logo standards, then it is important to assign one person to be the logo enforcer. This can take some time, within any company, because it's another approval layer, but it's worth it to avoid publishing your logo incorrectly, as this can get you into trouble down the road since you have violated your own trademark.
Your logo enforcer/chief/meister (Whatever you want to call that role), should analyze the logo usage and provide a seal of approval on any documents that are published using your logo, to make sure the usage corresponds to your trademark application and/or registration and your approved logo standard document.
If you want to make your ad agency AE your logomeister, that is fine, but then don't have some secretary at your company printing business cards without getting the logomeister's seal of approval: Business cards count too!
For an example of what a logo standard should look like, please send me an email and I can send you some samples. Note: No two logo standard documents are the same, but they all do one thing: Explicitly point out what you can't and can do with your company's logo.
And of course the logo standard documents were all approved using the aforementioned approval process. (See Tip #7).
I went on to demonstrate, with my team, that we could effectively reproduce her logo perfectly, for the next four years, until the bank was gobbled up by a competitor. During the four years we worked together, my team put the logo on invitations, signs, banners, websites, videos, brochures, folders, stationary, and a bunch of other things.
For this client, we started with one logo and moved into another one, after the bank was merged with its parent company and adopted a new logo standard.
The bank hired a graphic designer to help design the logo and write the logo standard. The logo standard document was very helpful as it explained exactly what to do and what not to do with the logo in order to maintain its trademark/registration status.
Now many of our smaller clients, don't think twice about their logo - they'll use it in a variety of colors, with 3D embossing, on colored backgrounds, sometimes with a tagline, sometimes not. Add a line of type here and there, what's the big deal?
The big deal is that if you don't enforce your own logo standard, the U.S. court system says that there is no logo standard and anyone can use your logo: Something like that. Now I'm not a lawyer and here at GWiz, we design logos and write logo standards for clients, but we don't register them with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office: We hire a lawyer to do that.
Once you do decide on your logo standards, then it is important to assign one person to be the logo enforcer. This can take some time, within any company, because it's another approval layer, but it's worth it to avoid publishing your logo incorrectly, as this can get you into trouble down the road since you have violated your own trademark.
Your logo enforcer/chief/meister (Whatever you want to call that role), should analyze the logo usage and provide a seal of approval on any documents that are published using your logo, to make sure the usage corresponds to your trademark application and/or registration and your approved logo standard document.
If you want to make your ad agency AE your logomeister, that is fine, but then don't have some secretary at your company printing business cards without getting the logomeister's seal of approval: Business cards count too!
For an example of what a logo standard should look like, please send me an email and I can send you some samples. Note: No two logo standard documents are the same, but they all do one thing: Explicitly point out what you can't and can do with your company's logo.
And of course the logo standard documents were all approved using the aforementioned approval process. (See Tip #7).
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Tip #11 ∞ What is a Media Mix? -
To help you get better results from your ad agency, it would be helpful to you to learn about a Media Mix. What is media?
In the advertising world, media could also be called the distributors of a communications message. Media could be network or cable television, newspapers, magazines, websites, billboards, direct mail, catalogs, brochures, or your blog, or any other type of material that contains your message.
Could a pro-golfer wearing your brand be a type of media? I say Yes!
Generally, a successful ad campaign will employ a variety of media to reach the audience. This is your media mix.
In the advertising world, media could also be called the distributors of a communications message. Media could be network or cable television, newspapers, magazines, websites, billboards, direct mail, catalogs, brochures, or your blog, or any other type of material that contains your message.
Could a pro-golfer wearing your brand be a type of media? I say Yes!
Generally, a successful ad campaign will employ a variety of media to reach the audience. This is your media mix.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Tip #10 ∞ How To Work With An Ad Agency (Like GWiz) ∞
To get the most from your ad agency, it is important to understand how an agency works, so that you will know the limitations and the unlimited potential of an ad agency. This article outlines the creative process so that you will better understand how the agency brings a creative solution to your marketing challenges.
But first, let's review the previous nine tips for "Getting more from your agency." If you have been reading the blog, you already know that, as the client:
1. You need to define your target audience both, per project and overall.
2. You need to give your agency a firm budget and timeframe for any project and the overall account.
3. You need respect your agency's expertise and taste in order for the partnership to work well.
4. When you create advertising/marketing material, it shouldn't be about you, it should be about what's in it for your customer if you want it to be successful at bringing in new customers.
5. Your ads should Show Don't Tell in order to quickly communicate to your audience.
6. You should Give Your Agency One Point-of-Contact, unless you want your agency fees to balloon.
7. You must have an iron-clad Approval Process and try not to be too nit picky, or your budget will soar.
8. Get to know the Lingo Your Advertising Agency Uses, so everyone, client and creative talent included, speak the same language and avoid confusion.
9. You should learn about the various Roles of the People Working at the Agency so you will understand that creative work doesn't happen in a vacuum or in an instant.
So now that you know all of the above, let's discuss the Creative Process and how an ad agency transforms your particular marketing challenge/situation into a solution.
The first step in arriving at a marketing solution is to communicate your objectives and goals to your Account Executive and/or agency principals. If you have been working with your AE for some time, then he/she should be pretty familiar with your business and/or industry. However, you have to realize that the AE's first business is communications and marketing, not making widgets/selling services in the fill-in-the-blank industry.
No matter how long you have been working with your AE, you need to realize he/she doesn't actually work in your industry, so you and your employees will always know more about your industry than your agency representative can ever hope to know. Just like your AE will always know more about what goes on in the communications business than you can ever hope to know.
In your meeting with your AE, any background information you provide will help the agency better craft a successful solution. These data could include past brochures and marketing materials, competitive information, industry information etc. Allow your AE to have full access to your staff in order to conduct interviews and gather information. Like a reporter searching for facts, your AE should be working to uncover the hidden gems that could be your next marketing success, assuming the budget allows.
The more you enable your AE, the more information you give him/her the less time it will take, and the less money it will cost you.
Step Two is when the AE takes the information about your marketing challenge back to the creative team and briefs the team.
You may think, "Why can't the creative team just come to meet with me in person? It would save time."
But, generally speaking, agencies are not going to want their creative team to be sitting next to the AE while the research and planning is being conducted at the client side.
There are many reasons for this such as, meetings and research can be very time consuming and some threads just lead to dead ends, which would be a waste of the creative team's time. Clients can go on and on in meetings, which is not the best use of the creative team's time, but it is a great use for the AE's time. The creative team is probably working on multiple business at the agency (sorry to tell you, but you're probably not the only one!), and the more an agency can minimize their client contact, the better they function.
A good AE will gather the information and present the relevant data to the creative team in an internal agency brief to jump-start the creative process. You need to have complete faith in the AE to get the job done.
Usually, the creative team will get started with a brainstorming session. The AE or Creative Director (CD) will lead the session and allow the copywriter and art director/designer team to participate. Ideas will be placed on the table, discussed, analyzed, and put in place. Some will be discarded, or set aside for later use. Others will be fleshed out.
Once an idea/solution takes hold, the creative team, needs to prepare a presentation for the client to evaluate. The creative team, including the AE, will work hard on this presentation: This is the "pitch" and it will be heading to you, the client. Money will be spent getting your presentation ready, as will agency time.
When you finally see it, the presentation probably represents hours and hours, if not weeks, worth of work, expertise and creativity, and should address your marketing challenge and present various solutions, given your budget.
Who at the agency will be involved in developing this presentation? Everyone! Creative solutions will be developed, media buys will be estimated, art and production costs will be evaluated.
Here's where the budget comes in. The money you are willing to spend on your creative solution will dictate what your agency can suggest to you.
Would a hovering helicopter shot of a marching band spelling out your logo in the middle of Wrigley Field solve your marketing challenge? If you don't have a budget, then that solution is not going to be on the table.
Once your agency has developed the presentation for you, then your AE and possibly the agency principals will present to you and your team, depending on the situation. Let's say you like the solutions your agency presents and the budget is approved.
Now you are basically 1/3rd of the way to the end.
Taking the marching band at Wrigley Field example, let's say your agency gets the greenlight from you. What's next?
Well, the ad must be roughed out: copy must be written, art decisions must be made, media must be booked and purchased. Measurable systems should be put in place, as well, to gage the program's success.
It's possible the agency will need to hire a photographer or illustrator, and in this case, a marching band and rent a helicopter ride. Maybe a director needs to be hired.
All of this hiring and managing takes time and money. That's why an average network commercial can run into the six figures for a fifteen second spot.
Hopefully, your agency will help you realize economies of scale during any production. As long as the marching band and Wrigley Field are booked, and one photographer is in the air in the helicopter, why not hire a second photographer to shoot on the ground in case other types of materials can be developed from the event? In the long run, this could save a lot of money.
All during this process, your AE should be keeping you informed, in the loop, and sourcing approvals of agency action on your behalf. Don't get impatient with your AE, and keep in mind that seeing the same idea over and over, albeit in various stages of production, is the nitty, gritty, work of putting together a communications solutions to meet your goals.
You may get tired of looking at this same thing, what seems like over and over, but to NOT do it, is to risk the entire project and budget overruns.
Once the production is completed, you the client will need to review any final materials prior to publication/printing/airing or whatever the media being used calls for.
The AE should present the solutions and get your buy in. It's your responsiblity at this point to direct the AE and provide approvals. Don't make your agency go from you, to the president, to the operations manager, to the head salesman, for input and approval. That's your job. If you want the AE to do your job, be prepared to pay for it. (See point number #6 above).
Finally, you have given your approval on the project: You're two-thirds of the way done!
Now the work goes to the next level: to the distributors of communications projects. These entities could be printers, television broadcasters, direct mail houses, web programmers, CD duplicators, or billboard/signage companies, or (who knows?) other.
The project still requires management, communications, approvals, oversight. You're not done with your project until the audience absorbs the information into their brains.
Once that happens, then the evaluation process begins. How will you measure the success of the project? Hopefully you set up goals based on realistic expectations. Your AE should also be guiding you in what to expect. There are industry baseline standards for response rates that your agency should know from various media, for example a direct mail program is considered successful if the response rate is 3-6%.
And YOU, the client, should have the goods to deliver once your audience begins asking for it!
I can't tell you how many times it happens: An ad has been produced, the space booked, the creative material developed, the media placed, the ad runs, customers read it, call the company and – merchandise not available: Held up in customs, burned up on a truck, it's overpriced, or whatever.
All the 4 Ps must be in place for a marketing project to work. Your ad agency is only responsible for ONE of the 4 Ps. You the marketer, are responsible for the other three.
Hey, if it was easy, everyone would be doing it!
But first, let's review the previous nine tips for "Getting more from your agency." If you have been reading the blog, you already know that, as the client:
1. You need to define your target audience both, per project and overall.
2. You need to give your agency a firm budget and timeframe for any project and the overall account.
3. You need respect your agency's expertise and taste in order for the partnership to work well.
4. When you create advertising/marketing material, it shouldn't be about you, it should be about what's in it for your customer if you want it to be successful at bringing in new customers.
5. Your ads should Show Don't Tell in order to quickly communicate to your audience.
6. You should Give Your Agency One Point-of-Contact, unless you want your agency fees to balloon.
7. You must have an iron-clad Approval Process and try not to be too nit picky, or your budget will soar.
8. Get to know the Lingo Your Advertising Agency Uses, so everyone, client and creative talent included, speak the same language and avoid confusion.
9. You should learn about the various Roles of the People Working at the Agency so you will understand that creative work doesn't happen in a vacuum or in an instant.
So now that you know all of the above, let's discuss the Creative Process and how an ad agency transforms your particular marketing challenge/situation into a solution.
The first step in arriving at a marketing solution is to communicate your objectives and goals to your Account Executive and/or agency principals. If you have been working with your AE for some time, then he/she should be pretty familiar with your business and/or industry. However, you have to realize that the AE's first business is communications and marketing, not making widgets/selling services in the fill-in-the-blank industry.
No matter how long you have been working with your AE, you need to realize he/she doesn't actually work in your industry, so you and your employees will always know more about your industry than your agency representative can ever hope to know. Just like your AE will always know more about what goes on in the communications business than you can ever hope to know.
In your meeting with your AE, any background information you provide will help the agency better craft a successful solution. These data could include past brochures and marketing materials, competitive information, industry information etc. Allow your AE to have full access to your staff in order to conduct interviews and gather information. Like a reporter searching for facts, your AE should be working to uncover the hidden gems that could be your next marketing success, assuming the budget allows.
The more you enable your AE, the more information you give him/her the less time it will take, and the less money it will cost you.
Step Two is when the AE takes the information about your marketing challenge back to the creative team and briefs the team.
You may think, "Why can't the creative team just come to meet with me in person? It would save time."
But, generally speaking, agencies are not going to want their creative team to be sitting next to the AE while the research and planning is being conducted at the client side.
There are many reasons for this such as, meetings and research can be very time consuming and some threads just lead to dead ends, which would be a waste of the creative team's time. Clients can go on and on in meetings, which is not the best use of the creative team's time, but it is a great use for the AE's time. The creative team is probably working on multiple business at the agency (sorry to tell you, but you're probably not the only one!), and the more an agency can minimize their client contact, the better they function.
A good AE will gather the information and present the relevant data to the creative team in an internal agency brief to jump-start the creative process. You need to have complete faith in the AE to get the job done.
Usually, the creative team will get started with a brainstorming session. The AE or Creative Director (CD) will lead the session and allow the copywriter and art director/designer team to participate. Ideas will be placed on the table, discussed, analyzed, and put in place. Some will be discarded, or set aside for later use. Others will be fleshed out.
Once an idea/solution takes hold, the creative team, needs to prepare a presentation for the client to evaluate. The creative team, including the AE, will work hard on this presentation: This is the "pitch" and it will be heading to you, the client. Money will be spent getting your presentation ready, as will agency time.
When you finally see it, the presentation probably represents hours and hours, if not weeks, worth of work, expertise and creativity, and should address your marketing challenge and present various solutions, given your budget.
Who at the agency will be involved in developing this presentation? Everyone! Creative solutions will be developed, media buys will be estimated, art and production costs will be evaluated.
Here's where the budget comes in. The money you are willing to spend on your creative solution will dictate what your agency can suggest to you.
Would a hovering helicopter shot of a marching band spelling out your logo in the middle of Wrigley Field solve your marketing challenge? If you don't have a budget, then that solution is not going to be on the table.
Once your agency has developed the presentation for you, then your AE and possibly the agency principals will present to you and your team, depending on the situation. Let's say you like the solutions your agency presents and the budget is approved.
Now you are basically 1/3rd of the way to the end.
Taking the marching band at Wrigley Field example, let's say your agency gets the greenlight from you. What's next?
Well, the ad must be roughed out: copy must be written, art decisions must be made, media must be booked and purchased. Measurable systems should be put in place, as well, to gage the program's success.
It's possible the agency will need to hire a photographer or illustrator, and in this case, a marching band and rent a helicopter ride. Maybe a director needs to be hired.
All of this hiring and managing takes time and money. That's why an average network commercial can run into the six figures for a fifteen second spot.
Hopefully, your agency will help you realize economies of scale during any production. As long as the marching band and Wrigley Field are booked, and one photographer is in the air in the helicopter, why not hire a second photographer to shoot on the ground in case other types of materials can be developed from the event? In the long run, this could save a lot of money.
All during this process, your AE should be keeping you informed, in the loop, and sourcing approvals of agency action on your behalf. Don't get impatient with your AE, and keep in mind that seeing the same idea over and over, albeit in various stages of production, is the nitty, gritty, work of putting together a communications solutions to meet your goals.
You may get tired of looking at this same thing, what seems like over and over, but to NOT do it, is to risk the entire project and budget overruns.
Once the production is completed, you the client will need to review any final materials prior to publication/printing/airing or whatever the media being used calls for.
The AE should present the solutions and get your buy in. It's your responsiblity at this point to direct the AE and provide approvals. Don't make your agency go from you, to the president, to the operations manager, to the head salesman, for input and approval. That's your job. If you want the AE to do your job, be prepared to pay for it. (See point number #6 above).
Finally, you have given your approval on the project: You're two-thirds of the way done!
Now the work goes to the next level: to the distributors of communications projects. These entities could be printers, television broadcasters, direct mail houses, web programmers, CD duplicators, or billboard/signage companies, or (who knows?) other.
The project still requires management, communications, approvals, oversight. You're not done with your project until the audience absorbs the information into their brains.
Once that happens, then the evaluation process begins. How will you measure the success of the project? Hopefully you set up goals based on realistic expectations. Your AE should also be guiding you in what to expect. There are industry baseline standards for response rates that your agency should know from various media, for example a direct mail program is considered successful if the response rate is 3-6%.
And YOU, the client, should have the goods to deliver once your audience begins asking for it!
I can't tell you how many times it happens: An ad has been produced, the space booked, the creative material developed, the media placed, the ad runs, customers read it, call the company and – merchandise not available: Held up in customs, burned up on a truck, it's overpriced, or whatever.
All the 4 Ps must be in place for a marketing project to work. Your ad agency is only responsible for ONE of the 4 Ps. You the marketer, are responsible for the other three.
Hey, if it was easy, everyone would be doing it!
Friday, October 9, 2009
Tip #9 ∞ Agency Roles ∞ Tip #9
To help you get more for your advertising dollar, it might be worthwhile to understand how advertising agencies are typically organized. In my experience, you would have the following people working on your account:
Account Executive
Media Director/Media Buyer
Creative Director
Art Director
Copywriter
Graphic Designer
Production Designer
Traffic Manager
What does everyone in the list actually do?
Account Executive - Liason to client; between agency and client. Main job: Insulate creatives to allow them to be creative, "sell" the work, but also represent the best interests of the client to the agency. Would also work closely with traffic managers and in general serve as project manager for any type of project.
Media Director/Media Buyer - Research, plans, and buys any/all media on behalf of a client.
Creative Director - manages creative team including Art Director/Graphic Designer/Copywriter - sometimes comes up with the "big picture" creative strategy for client.
Art Director - "Directs" the creative development of a project; manages selection of artwork for any particular project.
Copywriter - writes ad copy for the ad - works closely with Art Director and/or Graphic Designer to "get the messaging" right - sometimes dreams up imagery to accompany the copy. But usually this is done as part of a brainstorming session of the team.
Graphic Designer - does the layout and graphic design - might create imagery or place selected imagery as directed (and purchsed) by art director in an appropriate way. Sets all type - chooses fonts, colors, look, feel of any project. Manages the development of comps for the client to view and make decisions from.
Production Designer - makes sure that what the Graphic Designer has created can actually be produced in whatever medium is being used. Sometimes the Production Designer must re-do the design in "real" terms. Works closely with printers, media, etc., for best reproduction/broadcast of any project.
Traffic Manager - keeps track of what stage the project is in and helps AE stay on task. Also keeps track of media placements and various other management of moving pieces within an agency where multiple people touch any one project.
While this is an abbreviated list of the people who work on projects, and some agencies have other skill sets or "disciplines" and some agencies may have one person that fills multiple roles (Like GWiz does), I think this is a pretty close proximity for how most agencies work.
Account Executive
Media Director/Media Buyer
Creative Director
Art Director
Copywriter
Graphic Designer
Production Designer
Traffic Manager
What does everyone in the list actually do?
Account Executive - Liason to client; between agency and client. Main job: Insulate creatives to allow them to be creative, "sell" the work, but also represent the best interests of the client to the agency. Would also work closely with traffic managers and in general serve as project manager for any type of project.
Media Director/Media Buyer - Research, plans, and buys any/all media on behalf of a client.
Creative Director - manages creative team including Art Director/Graphic Designer/Copywriter - sometimes comes up with the "big picture" creative strategy for client.
Art Director - "Directs" the creative development of a project; manages selection of artwork for any particular project.
Copywriter - writes ad copy for the ad - works closely with Art Director and/or Graphic Designer to "get the messaging" right - sometimes dreams up imagery to accompany the copy. But usually this is done as part of a brainstorming session of the team.
Graphic Designer - does the layout and graphic design - might create imagery or place selected imagery as directed (and purchsed) by art director in an appropriate way. Sets all type - chooses fonts, colors, look, feel of any project. Manages the development of comps for the client to view and make decisions from.
Production Designer - makes sure that what the Graphic Designer has created can actually be produced in whatever medium is being used. Sometimes the Production Designer must re-do the design in "real" terms. Works closely with printers, media, etc., for best reproduction/broadcast of any project.
Traffic Manager - keeps track of what stage the project is in and helps AE stay on task. Also keeps track of media placements and various other management of moving pieces within an agency where multiple people touch any one project.
While this is an abbreviated list of the people who work on projects, and some agencies have other skill sets or "disciplines" and some agencies may have one person that fills multiple roles (Like GWiz does), I think this is a pretty close proximity for how most agencies work.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Tip #8 ∞ Components of an Ad ∞
In order to better communicate with your ad agency, it's helpful if you "talk the talk" so that everyone is on the same page in terms of advertising lingo.To demonstrate, take a look at this ad:
GWiz Marketing created this ad for our client, Hi-Line Utility Supply Co. for a trade magazine called Powerlineman Magazine.
By looking at this ad, one can clearly see the various elements that make up an ad.
These elements include:Hero Shot or main image
Headline
Subhead
Body copy
Footer which includes
additional components.
If everyone is using the same language when talking about an ad, there is less likely to be confusion or misunderstanding during the creative process.
When we talk of a "violator" in the advertising world, for instance, we are not talking about someone who has skipped parole. Rather, it is a graphical element that "violates" the ad space to get attention. We like to use the violator as a great way to call attention to our "call for action" in this case.
When we talk about "copy" we don't mean those pieces of paper that just came from the copier. In our case, the "copy" comes from the "copywriter" who has just written it for the ad. The long version is of course, "Body copy" and refers to the main text contained in the ad. Incidentally, "Greek Copy" doesn't actually use alpha and beta, but rather it is just text set into a spot in a layout in the event that the actual "copy" isn't quite written or approved yet. Greek copy is good in an ad layout, because it can tell the copywriter how many words need to be written for the space provided (Another way to save money!).
These graphical elements that make up an ad can be applied to brochures, white papers, billboards, etc. even websites, although there is additional terminology that applies to websites which I will go into later.
Also, just because there is a graphical element, it doesn't mean your ad MUST use every graphical element. For instance, in this example, another graphical element would be a header - we're not really using a header in this case, because the hero shot and headline really make up the header here.
But advertising should be about breaking rules, not following them. To get attention, you must be different and creative: so be daring.
Your ad doesn't necessarily NEED ANY of these elements - it could have one word in the middle of the page and plenty of white space for instance, which is another graphical element, that is missing in this example.
I love white space because it gets a lot of attention. White space is a calming break in the assault on our senses. Clients hate white space because they are paying for every spec of this real estate and they want to fill it up! But sometimes, less is more.
It's all in how you put it together.
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