Free from the constraints of chairing the recent B2B Marketing Awards during which as is proper in these circumstances my personal thoughts on entries stayed firmly inside my head; I am now able to share them. I am sorry to say this will not make happy reading for several, and they’ll know who they are.
You might wonder why I have chosen to be moderately outspoken on the subject. For this I must thank the many amongst the jurors who gave me encouragement to be so, prompted by our collective disappointment at some of the creative content we were asked to judge.
During three days we sifted through what we assumed to be the cream of the crop in B2B marketing. Campaigns that agencies and clients alike were thrilled and delighted with on all fronts. Indeed there were buried in the sometimes dreadfully poor standard of written submissions nuggets of sound thinking and evidence of commendable results. As for articulating the strategy in a simple, clear-minded and piercingly succinct way, this was sadly missing. Judging entries on ‘understanding of the objectives’ or ‘effectiveness and results’ was a relatively simple matter, as was recognising smart data or digital practice. It was when asked to evaluate the creative element of a campaign that we often did so with a heavy heart; so little was there to engage emotionally.
The problem with creativity is that it is beset with value judgements. We can all point to what we believe is good and bad, usually underpinned by what we like and what we don’t like and we are able to defend our views just as categorically. But beyond that, there is a simple test of any communications material, whether or not you are the receiving audience. Does it have an idea at the heart of it? Do you enjoy reading it? Does it look well thought through and does it captivate and illuminate? Think of any great consumer campaign you admire: whether you personally like them or not, all of the ones you can think of will tick these fundamentals.
This is much less so in the land of B2B. An underclass culture so often dominated by clichés, puns and clipart where it is rare to think ‘that’s nice copy, I am enjoying reading this’. Much of what was put forward was mind-numbingly and sometimes even yawningly crass and dull. The problem cannot lie with the client brief. There simply seemed to be an unwillingness or inability to add any creative enchantment.
Why, I wonder, do some of the agencies concerned even bother to have writers and art directors on their staff at all? If you place reliance on stock imagery and copy that regurgitates soulless features and benefits then you may as well get the ‘suits’ to do the job. So here’s a challenge for all ‘suits’ (borrowed from John Hegarty, chairman and creative director of Bartle Bogle Hegarty) when you have written the brief, consider the creative execution. Try visualising the proposition and writing a headline without resorting to boardroom speak. And, if you can’t, then take another look at the brief. Could it be that it’s a bit of a fudge, without a clear core proposition?
This is a perplexing situation because one of the main reasons B2B companies use agencies to work alongside them is to help get a complicated product and sales message through to a sophisticated market in an original way; original being the crux. The science of this process alone would suggest putting creative interpretation at the core of the thinking to cut through dross with electrifying work; work that makes a brand stand out, that energises and encourages the sales force and helps them get their foot in the door.
I wonder how many salespeople feel proud and passionate about the marketing materials created to support their efforts. In many instances agencies were strong on understanding their clients’ commercial environment. They knew their clients’ business and what was needed. But the same energy cannot be said to have been given to coming up with an original creative execution. It was as if once the issue was understood and the brief signed off, the expression was rushed through.
The convenient and lazy excuse will be ‘well, business audiences are different’. Yes, in the sense that the market is more complex, and buying decisions more considered. Not so different, I venture, that they are seduced and excited by wallpaper. When they receive something in the mail, or read through their trade magazine, they deserve better than something that’s belt and braces, cramming in the sales messaging and don’t mind the emotional appeal. Here’s a passing thought for marketing directors; refuse any work you are presented that uses toe-curling puns in a headline. That would do for starters. And you might even discover that your agency does indeed have creative people somewhere around.
The thing about award entries is that you only get to see what is submitted: obviously. Perhaps there really is great creative work out there. Perhaps the agencies and the clients involved in producing that work just didn’t get their act together in time to agree an entry. Well, for the sake of the sanity of next year’s jurors, please prepare for next year’s awards. And let’s see creative thinking that helped support the commercial achievements of the campaigns.
Just a word of apology to those entries that did shine through. They will know who they were.
