Advertising shouldn’t “feel right”. It’s either right or wrong.
It was Sir Martin Sorrell, the founder of WPP that said his advertising professionals would use language such as “feels right”; whereas his Finance and MBAs would use more absolute language. It was this use of language that would hold them back, as being absolute and definitive when making business decisions was too important to being left to the “feels right” brigade.
When you’re launching a highly anticipated new product or you’re investing millions into media, claiming the work; “feels right” just isn’t good enough. The team and shareholders deserve more discipline and better judgement. You have to optimise marketing decisions to ultimately drive the highest ROI and so articulating why, as a marketer, you’re making a particular decision is a crucial part of the job.
The challenge in marketing communications is the use of emotion. Emotion in marketing can drive a response which is far greater than simply being rational, in fact all great brands harness emotion in order to become preferred over competitors and in some cases even ‘loved’. Unlike making a finance decision, making a marketing decision that involves emotion can seem very subjective, even scary for those that are more accustom to making decisions from a spreadsheet.
Given advertising is sometimes described as “the art of magic and logic” you can see why professionals from other disciplines just let Marketers get on with making decisions.
It’s the emotion and subjectivity that means it’s tricky for professionals from other disciplines to have a view or actually hold marketers to account. I’ve worked in companies where colleagues have actively avoided having a view for fear of putting their finger prints on a piece of advertising!
It is crucial for the success of your business that advertising decisions can be made with certainty and not left to “feels right”. Gambling company money on a “feels right” is just crazy and irresponsible, but there is a way to judge advertising so you can be wholly objective when it comes to deciding which route is going to drive a better ROI.
Nearly 20 years ago I was trained at ISBA (The Incorporated Society of British Advertisers). The course was a real eye opener for me, providing a tried and tested framework that should be applied when judging creative and I’ve since adopted the framework in every business I’ve worked in.
The basis of that training all those years ago has allowed me to effectively judge creativity to ensure an optimal response rate. You’re still dealing with humans, and humans will consume marketing messages and sometimes respond unpredictably, but having a framework in order to help navigate this is an essential skill for any commercial person that is using advertising to sell product.
