At GGT, Gordon and I had a super-posh secretary called Nicola-Jane.
She’d been to a Swiss finishing school.
Nicky was always trying to be really helpful.
One day I was about to go to the hardware shop in Brewer Street, Soho.
The toilet cistern at home had jammed and I had to get a new ballcock valve.
As I was going out the door Nicky called to me.
She said “David, you’re needed in the boardroom now for a new business meeting.”
I said “Alright Nicky, tell them I’ll just be five minutes.”
She said “No, they need you now-now.”
I said “I’m only popping over to the hardware store for a ballcock valve.”
She said “You go along to the boardroom and I’ll go and get the ballcock valve.”
I said “You can’t get a ballcock valve Nicky.”
She said “Don’t be silly, of course I can.”
I said “Alright, what sort of ballcock valve are you going to get?”
She said “The prettiest one of course.”
Now I don’t doubt Nicola-Jane would have got me the prettiest ballcock valve.
But I do doubt that it would have been the right one for what I wanted.
She would have liked it.
But it probably wouldn’t have done the job.
Because Nicky wasn’t interested in what the job was.
She was interested in whether or not she liked it.
Consequently she never even asked me if it was for a three-quarter inch supply or a half-inch supply.
It didn’t matter to her.
Just so long as she liked it.
For me that’s how most advertising people are about what we do.
We think the job is to get advertising we like.
We automatically assume that if we like it everyone will like it.
We don’t think any further than that.
Do I like it?
But that isn’t necessarily the job.
For a start, what if I’m not in the target market?
How important is it then that I like it?
Isn’t it more important what the target market thinks?
And the most important part of the job is surely, does it work?
In which case, whether anyone likes it may have nothing to do with it.
What about an anti-smoking ad?
Or a ‘don’t drink-and-drive’ ad.
Or a headache cure.
Or healthy eating.
Or an energy supply company.
Or a rail-travel website.
Or a price comparison website.
In any of those cases, why is it important that I like the ads?
Surely it’s more important that the ads work.
Sometimes they work by shocking you.
Sometimes they work by worrying you.
Sometimes they work by persuading you emotionally.
Sometimes they work by convincing you rationally.
Because a lot of advertising is about changing behaviour, not just changing attitudes.
They don’t just need you to like something.
They need you to actually do something.
So whether you like it or not may well be irrelevant.
Because it isn’t the job.
I’m not saying we should never try to do advertising we like.
I’m just saying we shouldn’t start off assuming that’s always the entire job.
Often it isn’t.
A lot of the advertising we like doesn’t work.
Because it isn’t persuasive.
So it doesn’t change behaviour.
Like the ballcock valve, advertising has to do a job.
It’s not decorative.
So being liked isn’t its primary function.
There’s nothing wrong with being the prettiest ballcock valve.
Everything else being equal, in a parity situation, I’d probably choose the prettier of two ballcock valves.
But first I’d choose the one that does the job best.
Isn’t it human nature though Dave, to assume that only things you like will work? Sign of a good marketer is being able to ignore their personal preference and see work through their customers eyes. Unfortunately they’re few and far between in my experience.
Mike Fletcher - 10 January 2011 12:51 pm
Self restraint is so important. Certainly a valuable lesson in getting to the best ideas; I’ve realised that I prefer to work with people ‘I like’ – which doesn’t mean they have to be ‘like me’.
Rick Kiesewetter - 10 January 2011 1:07 pm
And was Swiss finish Nicky pretty too?
Charles Frith - 10 January 2011 1:53 pm
Good your site’s running again, Dave. The common response when someone’s told “no everyone will like what they like”, is, “Oh, that’s because you’re old”. Or, “the really cool people would like it”. And in very arrogtant cases,”ne’er mind, the award juries would like it.”
Robin - 10 January 2011 2:12 pm
Sounds to me like the reason why we need planners!
The key thing is to think about what the work needs to do, and then weigh that up with who it is aimed at. You’d think that would be a simple part of our job but apparently not…
This is why your work is still appreciated by adland Dave, because you found a sweet spot that mixed action and awareness with likeability. (E.g.: Hello Tosh was essentially a list of benefits but done in a way that people enjoyed.)
Rob Mortimer - 10 January 2011 2:56 pm
What type of finish does the Swiss school teach a girl, Dave: the shiny yellow cheese laminate with holes of varying size, the antique Toblerone, the Federer between the legs surprise, something that doesn’t clash with anything, neutral in other words…The there’s a Humphrey about so Swatch out?
Grilla Login - 10 January 2011 5:17 pm
@Rob – trouble is, sometimes, some planners also fall into the trap. Just because they like something, say QR code, they think everyone would.
Robin. - 11 January 2011 3:08 am
Amen.
Richard - 11 January 2011 9:58 am
Absolutely agree Rob.
That’s what the best planners do.
And we always need the best, of anything.
dave - 11 January 2011 10:06 am
Yes, Mr. Trott. As Ed McCabe used to say, to do great ads, we need 3 things. The clients who want it. The agency management who will will it. And the creative blokes that can do it.
Robin. - 11 January 2011 11:15 am
@Dave Indeed
@Robin Very true, but experience and good direction should eliminate that! If you are selling QR codes to offline pensioners you might not be that great at planning!!
Rob Mortimer - 11 January 2011 11:39 am
One has to assume, that hiring Nicola Jane was because she was likable/decorative rather than the one who would do the job best in that case…
Curator - 11 January 2011 2:03 pm
Curator,
It was a case of Function Follows Form.
dave - 11 January 2011 3:15 pm
I’ll bet!
Curator - 11 January 2011 3:18 pm
Just putting it out there but… What if this (definitely important) need to understand our audience, has led to research groups and the subsequent demise of creative work which once told people what they should think, rather than asking them what they think?
Haven’t really thought this through. Just feeling grumpy and therefore felt like randomly clogging up your responses with negativity. Sorry. Feel better now though. Cheers
Stan - 11 January 2011 5:47 pm
I think that was a combination of bad planning, bad researchers and agencies/clients wanting to cover their arse rather than take risks.
Rob Mortimer - 11 January 2011 6:10 pm
Stan,
I like what Steve Jobs says.
“It’s not the consumer’s job to know what they’re going to want next year. It’s my job.”
dave - 11 January 2011 6:14 pm
Dave, grammatically incorrect tho it is “It’s my Jobs” might, just might, have been more apt.
Grilla Login - 11 January 2011 7:10 pm
app may also b more apt than apt.
Grilla Login - 11 January 2011 7:24 pm
Stan,
how many focus group discussions do you think would lead to naming a jeans brand – Diesel?
Riki - 11 January 2011 7:38 pm
Dave, much as it pains ones finger to type it your post lends considerable weight to the defenses case for Gio Compario + his oft repeated refrain “Go Compare!”
Grilla Login - 11 January 2011 9:56 pm
Jobs comment a bit like what Ron, the C in WCRS, used to quote – ‘his job is to give the clients what they never knew they wanted – until they saw it’. Believe was an architect who first said it.
Robin. - 12 January 2011 2:19 am
Hi Robin,
Orson Wells said “Don’t give them what they want. Give them what they never dreamed was possible.”
Grilla,
Personally I don’t like that advertising, but it does work.
It’s not a very pretty ballcock, but at least it does the job.
Dave Trott - 12 January 2011 10:53 am
Yesterday I had to take a large well-spoken
female client out to the Hairdresser’s.
She is very intelligent.
She hates having her hair cut.
She hates walking uneven pavements.
She refuses to do anything when stressed
and will start to scream out in public.
She also has a notorious right-hander!
It took all morning to get her there.
Basically, I was powerless over the situation
but for one tiny thing.
She has a great sense of humour!
Halfway through town she wanted to go home,
Slightly exasperated, but not at all losing it,
I pointed to a shop window and told her in a throw-away statement;
“If you don’t get your hair cut, I’ll have to get you one of those”
pointing to a Wig Shop.
Fortunately for me, she burst into laughter rather than chinning me.
saying: “I’m definitely getting my hair cut now!”
She had a few under-her-breath “f-word” moments in the hairdresser’s chair
but the hairdresser did a brilliant job.
The client was very happy at the end of it.
We’d never met Gemma, from Now for Women in Tunbridge Wells,
but sometimes, you just have to trust your intuition.
And that’s all that matters.
That’s how I geot ad campaigns through difficult clients.
There are no rules, only actions.
Going back to the above, It was a hard slog, but with a little patience, we got there.
In times of austerity, clients, no matter how large or small appreciate that,
but more importantly they never forget the willingness to make the effort.
Kevin Gordon - 12 January 2011 11:04 am
I love reading this blog. It’s much better than anything in the papers but I do find myself wondering what really happened in the conversations Dave relates, and what the other person’s memory of it would be. In this case, I’m sure everyone knows that posh Nicola-Jane was taking the piss.
On top of that, I’d imagine, when she met her posh mates that evening in the Knightsbridge wine bar, Tarquin and the others couldn’t believe it when she said her boss, partner in a trendy ad agency, actually thought buying a ballcock valve for a tenner was a better use of his time than trying to get millions of pounds of new business for his company. And not only that, the implication is that later that day, ‘legendary advertising guru’ Dave Trott actually repaired his own toilet. Congratulations if that is the case, but did no one suggest getting a plumber?
MarkJ - 13 January 2011 11:21 am
I misread your last but one sentence as “In a party situation, I’d probably choose the prettier of two ballcock valves.”
Rob - 13 January 2011 3:14 pm