Author: Maria Šimurina, Account Executive at Imago Ogilvy
After three intense months spent in Miami Ad School, New York, to attend the Account Planning Boot Camp, I can say that my expectations have been met and I can hardly wait to start with applying acquired knowledge in my future work at Imago Ogilvy agency. The school included work on seven clients such as Converse, Hyundai and Unicef, visits to 17 agencies from New York altogether, including Mother New York RGA, 360i, Giant Spoon, Media Monks, Ogilvy and others.
Regardless the fact that seven days in a week every minute was booked and every day was so intense and eventful, in a way I have the impression that the program lasted for a year. I am grateful for getting the widespread approach to the project from its very beginning – the strategy. It is now from the distant perspective that I realise it would not hurt to recall some basics:
Lesson 1: There is no right or wrong
I have to admit that before attending Miami Ad School I used to approach projects with a certain dose of caution and an idea that pitches are acquired by “correct answers to the brief”. It is now that I’ve come to a conclusion that a solution can be reached in countless ways, and that there is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answer but rather a powerful point of view.
Takeaway: Perspective is the most valuable thing you have as a strategist.
Lesson 2: Define the problem
We are all familiar with Einstein’s quote: ”If I had an hour to solve a problem, I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and five minutes thinking about the solutions.” The same mechanism applies when it comes to approaching a strategy – make sure to understand what is it that the agency is about to solve. In other words, it is impossible to expect a successful solution of a task unless we don’t know what exactly is to be resolved.
Takeaway: Make sure you are solving a problem, and not the symptoms of it.
Lesson 3: Due diligence
What makes campaigns successful is resonating with a defined target group. The reason why campaigns resonate with the target group is that they are not based on assumptions about what the consumers are like, what they like or want, but on habits related to behaviour and hidden truths on them, which are results of a research. Exactly the facts on human behaviour, relevant for the project, serve as evidence supporting the set direction of the strategy. This makes it easier to argue the idea.
Takeaway: Strategy job is a conclusion, not an assumption.
Lesson 4: You don’t find the insight, you shape it
Here is a good reason to embrace data: insight is not searched for in a whole stack of data but shaped thanks to it. A strong insight is the one which involves a tension within, since the tension confirms the existence of a problem and indicates a revealed opportunity which the campaign can respond to.
Takeaway: Data is not an insight until you unpack it’s meaning for the audience.
Lesson 5: Briefing is never over
Briefing is not one official meeting between strategists and the creatives, but it involves all the discussions up to the moment a presentation is given to the client. Coming up to the great idea includes a constant cooperation and upgrade of minor ideas between all the members within a team.
Takeaway: If you stop thinking of the brief, you are a lazy planner.
Lesson 6: Culture comes first
Agency culture, to a considerable extent, deals with creating a psychologically safe and inclusive working environment which allows everybody to express their opinion and ideas, not only the loudest ones and those from the top of the hierarchy.
Takeaway: If there is no room to fail, there is no room to grow.
Lesson 7: Be generous
Knowledge is maybe the only thing that no one can ever take from us, and knowledge shared is knowledge multiplied. The very current example is The E.V.A. Initiative campaign rewarded with a lion in Cannes this year, in the creative strategy category. The exact reason for the reward was sharing of confidential company information.
Takeaway: See tittle of lesson 7.
That’s all folks!
Just as enthusiastic as I felt about my arrival to Miami Ad School, knowing that something new and big was coming, I feel in Imago Ogilvy now. I look forward to a fresh start with my former colleagues!
Have a good one!
