STRATSCRAPS_v190
Make up the rules
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In the star wars universe, apparently there is never any paper or anything with wheels. Small rules that aren't publicized. but through following these rules (among others I'm sure) the "Star Wars feel" is created.
Same with Road Runner and Wiley Coyote (here i have the complete set of rules).
This is probably true of most quality fiction.
What we do isn’t fiction.
But a campaign can be thought about as universe.
Maybe I’m wrong, I only have my own experience to draw from, but as an industry I don’t think we don't do this enough.
We all know the CCI. But what about the CCU? The Campaign Creative Universe (a comms plan) and all the rules and laws that come with a cinematic universe in Hollywood.
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Was talking to one of our apprentices (who I’m happy to say is now a full time employee) and I asked what types of things in strategy work would be good to cover in a department resource of some sort. What was challenging on a recurring basis?
“the gap between 4Cs and getting to a strategy statement”
Well, yea. We don’t talk enough about how big of a leap that can be. Or maybe the 4Cs returns nothing worth basing a strategy on. It’s like giving someone a map and telling them to go find a partner. The map might help, but there is so much more to it and at some point you just gotta get out there.
(probably a metaphor to be made between targeted advertising and online/app dating)
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Some links/readings I’ve shared before that I recently re-read and feel worth a share:
And something new to me: A multi part write up on professional identity. Just finished part 5 and struck by these two quotes in particular:
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“Writing solidifies, chat dissolves.”
-The 37 Signals internal guide to communication
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be flexible about your ideas, but be firm about your principles.
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Where is your specialty?
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creating a template/outline for taking notes specific to the purpose of the meeting is both incredibly powerful and futile.
On one hand, you go in with a plan and idea of what you want to get out of the meeting. But in some ways, knowing what you want blinds you to what else is there.
Don’t be so task oriented that you lose sight of any info might shift the playing field.
that said, meeting invites should be required to layout the agenda…
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the invasive editorial mindset.
In advertising, you grow a brand by reaching light category buyers, reach, mental availability and prevalence. You have a design target to inform the creative, but value comes from wide enough reach that your audience assumes everyone they know thinks what you want them to think.
In editorial, it is opposite. You start with a niche and then go wide within it. Think cigar afficianado magazine. People will seek it out. Ads today are full of insider messaging and coded language. which is fine.
But people will not seek it out. It only works if the audience assumes everyone has seen it. there are exceptions, but broadly we gotta stop approaching ads like editorials.
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And a couple things from the archives:
Fresh Eggs and Flying Lessons
Weekly Monster1
neither of these things is true at this point.