Picasso never had to follow a tech spec!
Our top tips to help Creative Houses and clients get highly creative creatives working!
When you work with a publisher that likes to dazzle their audience with the latest shiny ads and takeovers on a regular basis, you get used to a lot; takeovers, sidekick and pushdown ads that move the entire page around, pagemorphs, floor ads, game banners, synchronised ads, … you name it, we’ve probably done them, usually delivered with only hours to spare before the campaign starts!
Due to the complexity of the creatives and with so many people being involved, it regularly happens that I end up checking the test pages with one eye on the clock – Murphy’s Law states this will always happen on Friday afternoons. Generally, the creative houses and agencies I work with are often quite small, and have a high rotation of personnel and with it the knowledge and experience.
I remember one problematic campaign, spending days emailing the client about a creative issue, eventually, I ended up talking to ‘Bob’ (altered his name to protect the guilty…), in his converted garden-shed, convinced he was the greatest flash designer ever… 20 minutes later I was still explaining to him about the basics such as button actions. By the time we resolved the issues through many emails, it was green lit, the very day the campaign ended. When we told him it was assigned he replied with “All right!!!” … needless to say we never received another creative from ‘Bob’ again.
So how do you prevent something like that from happening?
- Your client needs to trust you … that you know your stuff and believe you can explain technical issues to anyone, this will give you direct access with their advertising agencies or creative houses (saving time and avoiding miscommunication).
- Know who you are speaking to and talk on their level. If people feel you are talking jargon they don’t understand, they will most likely ignore it or pass it along and you’ll get nowhere fast. Make sure you know who you NEED to speak to as well, as you don’t have time to waste, chasing the wrong person.
- Never send out the same “Here’s the tech spec” email more than once. If the designer didn’t get your explanation the first time, sending exactly the same email will not make them see the light. Call them.
- Network. You never know when you need a favour from someone when your main contact is not available. I always have a 30 second chat with everyone I speak to and most importantly, NEVER fall out with anyone, as you will find that they are “in a meeting” when you most need them.
My final piece of advice, always remember, when faced with insurmountable odds, the phone is mightier than the email!
