Someone recently mentioned this to me, and it's a good one.

Basically, you're reviewing some work for a project, and it's cool, but not quite what you were hoping.

Not because they're bad ideas per se, but they're not quite right for the problem you're trying to solve.

So, here are a few practical tips to navigate this without pissing anyone off or feeling like you're out of order.

(And by the way, if you do piss someone off, consider this more of a "they" problem than a "you" problem!)

First, keep reminding people of the problem.

This sounds obvious, but it needs saying.

Your role as a strategist isn't to decide if an idea is good, it's to decide if it solves a problem.

Which means you need a clear definition of it, and that becomes the thing everyone is held accountable for.

For example, problems might include things like:

• People feel happier when finding money vs saving it, so we need them to feel epic when saving (this was the problem behind the Money Supermarket ads by Mother from way back when)
• HR and finance professionals are seen as the butt of the corporate world, so let's turn them into rockstars instead (which is how Workday came up with this very loud and 80s hairy creative campaign)
• People are emotionally disconnected from clean sustainable water claims (which is why Liquid Death is the polar opposite and adopts the codes of a loud brash beer brand, proper "entertain for commercial gain" vibes)
• Kids don't care if vegetables are good for them, so let's make them the bad guys instead (which is how VegPower and ITV came up with this beauty)

You're not saying what the communications should look like.

But you are reminding everyone of what it should do.

And if an idea isn't doing the job... then you have more ammo to challenge it.

Second, know if you have a bunch of executions, or a campaign.

Sometimes you end up with a load of ideas but no connective thread to them.

I get it, it happens, everyone gets excited, and everything becomes a smörgåsbord of "just a bit of fun".

One useful way to keep things simpler is to simply ask the question.

What is the connective thread for all this work?

And here's the thing, it shouldn't even be complicated, it's a simple line that captures the essence of everything else.

For example:

• We spotlight celebrities' favourite McDonald's menus (which led to this)
• We show how Heinz is always the default for ketchup (which led to this)
• We show suicide doesn't always have visible signs (which led to this)

If you keep reminding people of what the connective thread is, this helps everyone filter which work works best.

Third, consider if it’s too early for some ideas to go live.

I sometimes say this as a joke, but i mean it:

"Is this a year 2 idea?"

Because it's easy for us to get so used to an idea and introduce variations of it before it's ready.

When in fact, System1 research shows that ads don't even wear out, they barely wear in.

So refreshing a very simple and consistent thought is where it's at.

It's why when you look at the McDonald's body of work, it's all remarkably landing similar points over and over.

Or why Channel4 had to do "We're the superhumans" well, before introducing thoughts like "Considering What?".

On paper, these could be different lines for the same campaign.

But in practice, each of them is a campaign idea with executional variations in its own right.

It's how you sweat a core thought for all it's got, and it's how you stand out and build memory structures.

Whatever you do, remember this.

You’re not fighting with creatives.

You’re just helping shape the work based on different criteria.

They're coming at it from a point of view of novelty, craft, freshness.

You're coming at it from a point of view of objectives, associations, consistency.

These are all dimensions of what a good campaign is, which makes us all creative product managers.

We just manage it from slightly different points of view.

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Rob Estreitinho Founder of Salmon Labs Here’s how else we can help you: 📱 Join our private community​ 💌 Read our newsletter archive​ 🛠️ Let's work together​

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