These posts were published in 2009-2011 on wediscoverstories.com. Abraham Maslow (of pyramid and self-actualization celebrity) once famously said, “If you only have a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.” If he enjoyed shrinking heads in the general public, I suspect he would have found real pleasure in analyzing the advertising world.
With deference and respect to those wielding extremely talented hammers, wrenches and screwdrivers in this community, I think the problems that our community, business and organziations face are too varied and too complex to always assume that the same tools or tool set will work. Yet altogether too often, without a moment’s consideration of context or culture, we meet new clients with hammer in hand and start pounding away.
This approach is much easier than facing some hard realities. Perhaps we don’t have the technical chops to build the web solution that is necessary even though we consider ourselves a full service agency. Maybe we haven’t invested the time as a design firm to be prepared to create the packaging or the point of purchase pieces that are ideal for a project. It’s even possible that this project doesn’t have the budget to justify production and media buys that provide the revenue we need to make this project profitable.
Our job as advertising, communications, public relations, design and web professionals is to put in the hard work necessary to discover and ultimately share the core values, culture and identity of our clients. To beat the metaphor to death, we must determine if they are, in fact, hammers and to market them as what they are…not what we might hope them to be.
As our business evolves, if we’re to be credible as organizations and an industry, we need to do the same hard work to determine what it is that we are. We may want to be cutting edge interactive firms, social media experts, or full service agencies. Those answers are simple. But do we have the staff and culture to deliver on those promises? Do we have the commitment to challenging clients and pushing creative? Are we willing to do what is right, even when it doesn’t bring a profit? Would we pass on a big budget project if we didn’t think we could meet their needs?
Sometimes those questions can be very, very complicated. There are times when we may not realize what it is that we are or how best to serve those that trust us with their businesses, organizations and communities. Most of the time, however, we know when we’re really nailing a project…and when those same businesses, organizations and communities are just getting screwed.
Originally posted at http://www.sdaf.org/2011/02/designing-solutions/