Is the job of a strategist “voice of the consumer” or “effectiveness”?
I hear people say the former a lot. But isn’t that one of the primary “hows” that serves the ultimate “what” – making ads that work?
Let’s shift back to “making ads that work” being the core value of a strategist. Everything should serve that goal. And there are many avenues that do so. But if that is what we’re in the room for, and everyone knows it, I imagine our voice would carry more weight.
Of course, it means that there would be technical knowledge barriers to entry for becoming a strategist. Which is a good thing. I’ve always maintained that should be the case. Too many cultural strategists in the world that couldn’t tell you much about what makes advertising work.
What is our purpose?
I saw something somewhere (specific I know), that said: “the less an ad is talked about, the better it works” - because ads are about building associations and memory structures. And that’s the kind of advertising I want to do. But I think that kind of work is largely gone forever.
Clients don’t care about the long term– they are there to get theirs and move on. Average CMO tenure is the shortest it’s ever been. (The median tenure for chief marketing officers is 25.5 months,)
Today, talk value creates shareholder value. A tweet can make you a lot of money.
Brands are money cows to be milked until they’re dry.
(Sears is the saddest example of this).
But maybe we can work within our horrible new reality.
Look at what CP+B was doing in the 90’s. “Stunts” that created memory structures. – brand building through creatively manufactured gossip. But they weren’t stunts. They were actions meant to stick in your memory. They were definitely not measured by social mentions.
I think that could be a worthwhile new agency model. Anyway, The Rumor Mill just shot to the top of my “potential agency names” list.
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There is no end to this story.
STRAT SCRAPS
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“Saying you’re burned out is a subtle form of self-praise. If you’re burned out, then you must have been a roaring blaze of productivity to begin with, an ideal worker in a culture that values work practically above all else. In the religion of work, the burnout is a martyr. …We complain that work is crushing our bodies and souls, but we also love it. The pain is how we validate our lives. On some level, we want to burn out.”
We didn’t always think of work this way. …employers started promoting the idea that work was lovable, that it was a source of purpose, during the mid-1970s, as a way to compensate workers for declining wages and job security… Americans’ ideals for work rose not just while their working conditions eroded but because they eroded. That gap between ideal and reality is what fosters burnout.”
There’s a lot to unpack in this article: The Exaggeration of “Burnout” in America.
Biggest takeaways:
You’re not experiencing “cooking burnout” – and claiming to have _____ burnout is pretty insensitive to those experiencing it for real.
Burnout is defined as experiencing all three of the following symptoms: exhaustion, depersonalization (or cynicism), and a sense of ineffectiveness. Just being tired isn’t enough.
Perhaps most importantly, burnout is a direct result of the false narrative that we are meant to find purpose and fulfillment in our work. A narrative that was created to excuse declining wages. No matter what, remember that you owe your company nothing. I see too many people staying in bad jobs because of a false sense of loyalty.
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