If TBWA wants to be one of the top 10 most creative companies in the world, it has to look at everything in a different way. John Hunt, Worldwide Creative Director, explains how.

We can’t define advertising in a narrow way. We have to learn from companies outside of ourselves – learn how they redefined the categories they played in. We have to look at our jobs, our clients, our audiences and certainly the media from a completely different angle. I’ve put a few practical thoughts together that may help us do this.

1. Change the way we brief.

Imagine if the brief was the first expression of Media Arts? Our briefs need to be more visual. They don’t always have to include lots of ticks in boxes. And they certainly don’t have to be done in the agency. Briefs, certainly on big campaigns, should be inspirational. For example, we recently did a briefing for a pasta client in an Italian restaurant, it’s amazing what Italian opera and arabiata can achieve.

2. Invite the client to the briefing as well as the presentation.

It sounds a little radical, but it really works. If it’s the client’s briefing, strangely enough, it also becomes their campaign. This way, you don’t meet each other for the first time at the presentation. Adopt this policy and I bet your first-time sell rate will double.

3. Think more about how you package your ideas.

So many great ideas don’t see the light of day because we package them badly. Unfortunately, both in awards shows and presentations to clients, your work is only as good as the way it’s packaged. In South Africa, they did a radio spot for Jungle Oats, a breakfast cereal that’s meant to make kids strong. They wanted it to sound like an old Zulu work song.  That’s quite difficult to sell – but not if you ask 100 children from Soweto’s Room 13 to sing it for you.

4. To get more beautiful answers ask more beautiful questions.

A great idea often comes from a perfectly asked question. So don’t just ask a client about the size of their budget – also ask about the real problems with their business. A client will let you do great work if they you really understand their business. That way, we’re not just the provider of their ads, but rather the architect of their brand.

5. Divide and Conquer has become Share and Conquer.

To become that architect, the agency now has to work as a team.  If there are walls between Client Management, Creative, Planning, Digital, Media and so on, they should become invisible. Different disciplines are not an excuse for working in sealed silos. Our clients, more and more, want an all-encompassing answer to their mounting problems. They don’t care where the answer comes from, as long as it comes.

6. Have an idea, not just an ad.

Our job is to effect audience behaviour, not just to fill in a media schedule. Don’t get me wrong – often a great idea will still find itself translated into mainstream media. And practising Media Arts is absolutely no excuse for lousy TV commercials or print ads. It’s just that in effecting audience behaviour, ‘classical’ advertising is no longer the only game in town. TBWA\Berlin could’ve done posters and double page spreads. They just thought the adidas ‘Huddle’ and ‘Ferris Wheel’ spectaculars during the UEFA EURO 2008 might have more impact.

7. 2 or 8

Talking about work, you might want to remember these two numbers. I was a judge at Cannes about 15 years ago. We spent a lot of time arguing whether an ad was a 5 or 6. Three years ago, I was the president of the jury and the argument never came up. These days work is brilliant or lousy, incredibly memorable or instantly forgettable. You score a 2 or an 8. The middle has dropped away. Nice, pleasant or mediocre equals invisible. The important thing to remember is that’s not just how the judges see it. It’s also the audience’s reaction.

8. Break Habits

Habit. Acknowledge that we’re all guilty of it and then declare you’ll no longer be its slave. TBWA has many tools to help you break habit. But you have to embrace them. Disruption helps you and your clients zig when everyone else is zagging. Media Arts shows how fresh thinking can take you beyond advertising. Plunge into the Daily Feed, JMD’s Thursday, What If, SWATs, Young Bloods, The Very Short Very Cheap Film Festival, Disruptunes and so on. Celebrate the fact that you have such a stimulating place to play. Habit is very rarely the best way – it’s just the easiest way. And TBWA deserves better than that.

If you have any comments please email Ulrich Proeschel.