Hey friend β Rob here. Old school ways of working: clients want the answer. Modern ways of working: clients want options. It's insane that so many places still refuse to accept this, or work with it. The body language of doing so suggests they think clients are idiots. When in fact, we see different market dynamics vs "the good old days":
This does not mean agency responsibilities or processes aren't important. It does mean they're not so exclusive that clients don't get to have a say in things. It's one thing to have proper standards. Quite another to be plain stubborn. Strategy, if nothing else, is a team sport. But our job isn't to execute every single play. It's to effectively manage the players. Keep swimming, Rob
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Helping savvy strategists swim upstream.
Hey friend β Rob here. Do you worry about things? Or at all? My suspicion is that you worry far too much about everything. But don't worry, so do i. I think it's part of what makes strategists minimally good at the job. We are always wondering what else we might be missing. It's not a point of advantage, but it's definitely a point of parity. Worrying means we don't take anything for granted. And that's the first ingredient you need to challenge preconceptions about a problem. However. As you...
Hey friend β Rob here. A few months ago i kicked off a video interview series, starting with Chris Rawlinson, founder of 42courses. You can watch it here. It was genuinely one of those wide ranging conversations where you start on point A and finish on point 37.1. And if that structure makes no sense, it's by design. I love randomness in exchanges. Anyway, there's tons of wisdom that i got out of Chris's brain, and some good lessons to help us all grow with a greater sense of compassion,...
Hey friend β Rob here. At its peak, Crispin Porter + Bogusky lived and died by a thought: βDon't write the idea, write the news headline.β This is true for creatives, but should also be true for our briefs. Sure β back them up, add context, explain where weβre coming from. But never lose sight of the headline of what you're asking. Friedrich Nietzsche once said: "I want to say in ten sentences what others say in a whole book." How often do you see briefs that are comprehensive, but not clear?...