From the mind of JIM
Teamwork
In my career the one thing I’ve seen kill more excellent ideas than anything else is lack of teamwork. When strategy, account service, media, and creative aren’t all pulling the same rope in the same direction, even the best ideas are at risk of being undermined, underdeveloped, and undersold. It’s a terrible feeling sitting in a room with a client and listening to someone on your team trying to sound like they believe in an idea that they don’t. And when they don’t, it’s usually because their opinion was not valued at some point along the way.
I tell everyone I work with that they need to understand a simple truth – the first draft of the creative for every assignment we work on is the creative brief. Therefore, it’s the account team that takes the first creative swing, not the creative team. This is important because it puts the spotlight on people outside the creative department, giving them incentive to really get engaged, write an inspirational brief, and feel ownership throughout the process. It also puts the onus on the creative team to grab the baton and start sprinting. If you get handed a truly great brief, you had better deliver ideas that do it justice.
Most importantly however, taking this approach establishes a mindset that is really at the core of what we’re looking for from a teamwork perspective. Starting from the very beginning of every project, we are all in this together. So no matter where the work ends up, what twists and turns it takes on the way to the client’s boardroom, we all have a stake in it. We all had our say on it. And we all have an authentic belief in it. That comes across when we present ideas, and in my experience, clients want to feel that. Even more importantly, clients want to buy that.