I make a lot of presentations, write blogs, tweet, read stuff, go to events.
In short there is a lot going on in my life.
So I have to admit that, as much as I'm sure that I coined the following opinion, I can't be certain.
But whether it came from me, or I absorbed it via osmosis, I firmly believe in the following statement:
You get paid for the job you do.
You get promoted for the value that you add.
Wherever it came from, it really makes sense.
Let's apply that thinking to a pitch scenario.
You get plaudits for answering the brief.
But you win them by not answering the brief.
It's not as contradictory as it sounds.
So allow me to elucidate.
We all know that world has changed.
That's as true for clients as it is for agencies.
Today's brief no longer resembles the briefs of yesteryear.
As my colleague Gareth said, they're now a mixture of research data, market background and wishful thinking.
For the first time in my experience there is no agenda in the solution.
Clients really do want to embrace the radical, the different, the groundbreaking.
It is now up to us to throw off the shackles and begin to tease out the clues in the brief.
We've all heard clients say "I can't tell you exactly what I want, but I'll know it when I see it."
Our job is to help them figure out what they want, before we can start to deliver it.
So no more colouring between the lines.
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