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How To Talk To Marketing Creatives

October 10, 2020|Ted Tobin

The simple answer is…anyway you like! No, I didn’t just give you permission to be abusive. I meant that you are the client and it is our job as marketers to figure out your marketing needs and make them happen. For the most part
a client note is a productive and well thought out expression of their needs and desires for their brand. But sometimes as a client you know something isn’t quite right with a piece of content, but you can’t offer a solution
that particular issue.

In my career I have had some notes that have been doozy’s. Just for fun. Here are a couple of them.

“I asked for blue and you gave me purple” (no idea)

“This is not a pirate movie!” (first Pirates of the Caribbean film)

“It needs to feel more like the first day of school.” (This was about a line of candles.)

Years ago, I worked with a very talented editor who labeled these kind of notes, “Alien notes.” But instead of dismissing these notes because they come from a far-off planet that has no concept of our ways or language. We have
to understand that our client is feeling something is missing or isn’t working with what we presented. We have to look at what we came up with and try a different direction. Any note should spur thought and ideas. This is not to
say that we won’t fight for what we believe in. But a lot of times we have to present two solutions, the clients and ours, side by side. Often the solution is not what the clients asked for but something that the clients idea
inspired.

The onus isn’t on you as the client to give better notes, instead it’s on us to try something new. So, go on speak your language! Ultimately you know what you want for your brand better than we do. Again, be nice about it, we
creatives are sensitive people.

Ted Tobin
Executive Creative Director
Creative Marketing Solutions

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