Dealing with Roadblocks

Last week was absolutely mad – no less than three projects hit major roadblocks. In this case all brand managers on client side were switched and replaced with new ones that were out of the loop on previous approvals and had their own (very different) opinions on art direction. Needless to say, after innumerable rounds of revisions we’re pretty much starting from scratch. At any rate I took this as an opportunity to get into a discussion with my executive director and a few of my account executive friends about how best to handle a problem like this, more to the point, how to handle endless rounds of revisions.

Firstly, all of them separately suggested changing up the creatives dealing with the project. Sometimes a fresh creative approach just won’t cut it. Sometimes, you need to start with a team that’s unfamiliar with the project at hand, and ideally - hasn’t seen any of the previous creative.

This actually works to highlight one of the key strengths the agency model holds against smaller and more focused digital studios. Agencies typically work in groups, with 2 or 3 creatives per group (copy, art, and possibly motion/online). Each group generally deals with 2 or 3 different accounts. So shuffling which creative team is handling a given project can be a smooth(er) operation or, at the very least, one that is possible. In comparison, smaller digital shops are generally more limited by their numbers and might not have the capacity to shuffle creatives - possibly burning out creative stamina while re-visiting the same project for the same brand over and over. I think every freelancer knows how soul destroying that process can be.

Secondly, as my ED put it, problems in the approvals process can be a symptom of a bigger issue below the surface. I would imagine this second solution would be to change the creative AND account teams, as well as getting the ED personally involved with the project – depending on the severity of the situation.

Anyway, will try to post more, but int he meantime if anyone has any other ideas, I'd love to hear them!

The Fastest Way to Have to Do a Project Twice

Here's a scenario; my creative team and I go through the brief, develop a creative strategy, and deliver concepts. All good so far. Now be it because of time constraints, scheduling conflicts, or simply distance, the creative gets sent off for approvals via email, or perhaps, left with accounts to pitch. This is the part of the project where everything goes balls up.

Why? Because without a proper explanation of contents, interaction, and most importantly creative rationale, the client becomes free to infer, (mis)interpret and make revisions however they see fit (in the second scenario, it's compounded by account directors agreeing to all their comments, naturally, as their job is to make good with the client and sell the project).

Now, I'm not blaming clients..or accounts. It's difficult enough to grasp an interactive storyboard with someone explaining it in person, nevermind trying to grasp it from static jpegs in a powerpoint. So, inevitably what follows are revisions dictated by a client who may not be 100% on track with even the general function or idea for the site. The initial time saved by not having creatives present in person, gets eaten up 3 times over in revisions and adjustments.

It's a classic example of not communicating with a client, but such an easy pitfall to get into. From my point of view, even if it means I have the project sit for days, that client presentation or even conference call will happen and will include at least one creative.