Did you know there are two ways to write follow-up?*
Just a reminder to double-check your stylebook before putting something on the web. Bad writing = lost credibility = nobody wins.
“Graphic design is a powerful tool. Like in life, designers should always be conscious of where every decision they make will eventually lead. Constant reflection is essential, and not putting yourself in front of the job is a must. Every job is a completely new situation and needs to be considered in a new way. There is no room for self-actualization, or giving your personal design profile a boost. It’s about performing the task, learning from it and enjoying yourself in the process.”
Open Letter to a client in search of an agency.
Sir or Madam,
If you have decided to hire a new agency, permit me to suggest a simple way to go about it.
Don’t delegate the selection to a committee of pettifoggers. They usually get it wrong. Do it yourself.
Start by leafing through some magazines. Tear out the advertisements you envy, and find out which agencies did them.
Watch television for three evenings, make a list of the commercials you envy, and find out which agencies did them.
You now have a list of agencies. Find out which are working for your competitors, and thus unavailable to you.
By this time you have a short list. Meet the head of each agency and his Creative Director. Make sure the chemistry between you and them is good. Happy marriages fructify, unhappy ones don’t.
But don’t ask to meet the working-level people who would be assigned to your account. You might find them congenial, but have no way of judging their talent. Or you might find them repulsive- some of the most talented people are. A prospective client once passed up an opportunity to hire Ogilvy & Mather because the very able copywriter to whom I introduced him had long hair.
Ask to see each agency’s six best print ads and six best television commercials. Pick the agency whose campaigns interest you the most.
Ask what the agency charges. If it is 15 per cent, insist on paying 16 per cent. The extra one per cent won’t kill you, but it will double the agency’s normal profit, and you will get better service. Whatever you do, don’t haggle over the agency’s compensation, I know a big corporation which insists that its agencies negotiate terms of business with its Purchasing Department, as though they were selling office furniture. Would they do this with lawyers and accountants?
Insist on a five-year contract This will delight the agency- and protect you from being resigned if one of your competitors ever tries to seduce them with a bigger budget.
– From Ogilvy on Advertising
Although times have changed a bit, and some of these guidelines pertain to bigger agencies instead of smaller studios, this Open Letter still sets the standards high. Replace the words “magazine” and “television” with “the web,” and you’re good to go.
Who knew Ogilvy would still be relevant nearly 30 years later… especially when so much has changed in this industry?
Having options– perceived infinite choice– isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
Tim Ferris hits on relationships in his article, but what he’s really saying can be applied to our industry, too.
There is this perception that the more options you have, the better. You have freedom to choose, flexibility to head in a slightly different direction, or change your mind altogether. The more the merrier, isn’t it?
But we’re believers in something else. We believe our clients hire us as their design studio because (consciously, or subconsciously) they know we are good at what we do, and they trust us to do our jobs well. They don’t ask us to design a logo so we can give them 40 variations and put the burden on them to decide which one is right. What they really want is for us to listen to them, interpret everything they’re not saying, give them what didn’t know they wanted, and in as few choices as possible. Make it easy for them. Sound complicated?
It’s your job.