According to the network, the original Star Trek script was too sexy, over-reached by having a FEMALE first officer and Mr. Spock (RIP) looked too demonic.
 

According to the network, the original Star Trek script was too sexy, over-reached by having a FEMALE first officer and Mr. Spock (RIP) looked too demonic.

Seinfeld’s iconic, bass-heavy theme music almost was scrapped. NBC didn’t like it and asked for it to be changed along with a litany of other “recommended” changes. During their 100th episode party, the crew created an oversized blowup of “the list.” NONE of the changes had been made.

The point? Fight for your work!

If your segmentation is tight, your research sound, your strategy focused, your message differentiating and your creative disruptive … and it’s all on brand … the rest is simply noise.

Your 87 year-old, retired Board Member should not “GET” your SEM message to Millennials. If she does, you may have done something wrong!

Maybe your female-focused checking ad should not necessarily “speak to” to your male CEO.

 

Lets face it, there’s a reason that the DVDs and Blu-rays of many of your favorite movies have Director’s Cuts. It’s because someone who is not a director or writer demanded changes … and they sucked!

I mean, come on, a Paramount executive didn’t want Brando to play the Godfather!!!

The trick is to keep non-marketers out of the creative. When critiquing work, anyone outside of the marketing department should be focused on 3 things:

  1. Is the message accurate (right offer, factual, etc)?
  2. Is the message on brand?
  3. Is it compliant
It is the marketer’s job, when presenting creative to head-off any deviation in the discussion by sharing:
  • Targeting/segmentation
  • Relevant research
  • Strategy (offer, timing, media, etc)
  • Competitive differentiation
  • Anticipated response with impactful message
Don’t simply share the work, share the thinking behind it.
 
 

 

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