I’m a real boy!
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I also have availability coming up starting in April.
(clicking this button will open your default email client.
I kinda hate it when I click something without knowing that.
Email is alex@stratscraps.com)
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I’ve had a few thoughts as I’ve been doing freelance work
Long thought:
When you’re hired to simply diagnose the problem and recommend a single “answer” – you are reminded how much things get over complicated.
SO MUCH of the magic is in the execution. A lot of strategy work is complex and requires knowledge, experience, and time.
But as it relates to “what should the creative do?” (you know – a brief), its usually pretty simple.
Research/Audit/Known Info What drives choice in the category? What is the unspoken “benefit”? What is the current association with the brand? Decisions to make What are the different ways to build on existing memory structures? Which of those paths has the best chance at standing out? (But even that last one is so highly dependent on creative – which is why they always need to be involved in "positioning" decisions)
There isn’t always an “insight” nor a pithy line. Those are nice – if they bring clarity.
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Short Thought:
There is an interesting co-occurring freelance opportunity for a person who helps bring in business. I’ve had this thought for my artwork as well. I like doing the strategy. I like making the art. I don’t love the process of promoting or selling or managing the admin side.
Or maybe it’s time to realize that being an adult is doing things you don’t always love and just do the freelance part of going freelance.
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An article that I wish I had understood sooner in my career:
Signs Your Communication Is Suffering From The Curse Of Knowledge
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Let’s go crate digging.
Except in dropbox instead of a crate, and screenshots
instead of records.
Pretty sure i’ve shared this before, but here are a few important but less considered things to consider when pitching…
Why now? Why is the account up for review/being RFP’d at this moment? It is pretty reckless to pitch an account without knowing this information, yet incredibly common
Watch out for clients who fear their boss. Who is the client’s boss and what is their relationship? The most dangerous setting for a creative agency is working for a client who is overly concerned with the opinions of their boss
(especially when they don’t actually know their boss very well).Provide an outcome to buy. Another one shockingly absent from a ton of pitch work: “here is what we can expect based on the segment we’ve defined, our proposed approach and estimated spend.” Otherwise what are they buying?
Sell the hole, not the drill.Show something big, but suggest something smaller. “We could do this. But to be honest, we think you probably only need this” — i.e. show you have their best interests in mind.
Nobody wants to be sold to. How can you make selecting you feel like a choice they made rather than something you were able to convince them of.
Clients aren’t shopping, they are dating. When selecting an agency, clients buy the people. The secondary consideration is the thinking . The work itself is usually in 3rd place.
THE BIGGEST THING: MAKE SURE THEY CAN DESCRIBE WHAT YOU PROPOSED IN A CONVERSATION TO A COLLEAGUE – WITHOUT LOSING THE EXCITEMENT.