I just got beat up today.

Pushing the edge on creativity can be tiring. Earlier this month we had pushed a pretty edgy idea with our auto dealer client to market their truck line. Getting it passed through was a miracle, but we stuck to our guns. And now, even though it’s running and generating sales, the client still shows signs of buyer’s remorse.

Photo by Josh Sommers

Sidebar

Let me first say that I think we do good work–is it GREAT work? No. But I think we do good work. We have a few campaigns that people buzz about. That’s always a good sign. We had a client tell us essentially that if our creative didn’t work, they would fire us. It worked and we got two more of their brands (We should have asked them to define “work” better because our definition was a bit different from theirs. But we’re not looking a gift horse in the mouth).

Like, It Works!

So how important is it that clients and their customers like a campaign? It’s important in the client relationship and management of the account. If they like it and it works, that’s good good: “Wow! We’re geniuses! Not you, us.” Almost as good is when the client likes the campaign and it doesn’t work, they’re more willing to take the misery together: “Wow, I can’t believe that didn’t work; we’re disappointed, but let’s keep working.” Campaigns they don’t like, but fail can get you fired: “See, I told you it sucked, but you guys wouldn’t listen!”

“I’m offended! How much is that truck?”

But, what if they hate the campaign and it’s working? They trusted us to create something compelling. We did. We ran the first ad in a very small space (I’ve seen classified ads bigger) and they six phone calls. One negative, five telling them how funny it was. They sold two units off of it. Not a bad ROI. We ran another ad in the same place. Four phone calls, two of them negative. Time to pull the campaign.

Soften the Edges

We were able to talk them into softening the approach and it didn’t seem to kill the idea. We ran the new ad and the calls kept coming in. The point was, people were talking about it. And they were buying. The sales people considered it a blunder, but, this month, they’re going to have the best sales month on trucks in two and a half years. The brand was dying and the campaign helped to bring it back.

That should make anyone love a campaign.

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