Gawen Rudder: From ‘yes but’ to ‘why not’

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LP meetings.jpgAd industry veteran Gawen Rudder agrees with The Works co-founder Damian Pincus that now is the time for creative companies to put game-changing ideas in front of clients.

I don’t know who Louise Pierson is, but just love her quote.

Let’s dedicate this to the client in the red chair. The one who sees promise in your campaign, the bold one who says, ‘Why not’, and the one who, like Andrew Howie of Meat & Livestock Australia, says, “Let’s work on this together and make it even better.” Howie is cut from the same cloth as his much admired and revered predecessor, the late David Thomason. David was the client every agency wanted to work with, the client who balanced risk and responsibility in approving a decade of Australia Day lamb campaigns in the face of all manner of complaints from outraged vegans and claims of racism.

Back in the day, Warren Brown – the B of BMF – told me, “David loves creativity. He loves exploring the limits. He often takes a punt on us delivering on what we promise, but because we know that, it puts the pressure back on us. We have a very healthy respect for each other’s opinions. He’s always looking for maximum bang for his buck; but I think advertising can be the fun end of a lot of serious stuff for David with stakeholders, farmers and the like. I like him because he challenges us. He’s one of the few clients I’ve ever worked with who’ll look at an ad and think it’s terrific, then he’ll drive back to the office and I can set my watch and wait for the call: ‘do you think we could . . .’, ‘could we maybe have a look at . . .’., or, ‘what if . . .'”

Despite the obvious risks, David Thomason always sat firmly in the red chair. He understood that by trying to offend nobody (including our friends at the Advertising Standards Board) MLA might have ended up saying nothing to anybody.

The fence-sitters and nay-sayers, those seated in the white chairs are all too familiar. The ‘yes-butters’ and the ‘not-knowers’ often dominate a meeting. Truth is the voice of caution too often makes it easier to reject than select.

The 50-year-old film Risk & Responsibility (still on YouTube) remains an object lesson in how to avoid death by a thousand cuts by picky clients or over-bearing ECDs. The scratchy black and white 16mm classic is hosted by David Bernstein, creative director of Garland-Compton (which morphed into Saatchi & Saatchi in the mid-seventies.) “By trying to be too responsible, to eliminate all risks rather than trying to use risk constructively, we often do more harm than good.” In other words, the film argues that creative risk-taking is essential to effective advertising.

About eight years ago, effectiveness champion Jon Steel (I believe he’s won more gold Effies than anyone else on the planet) bemoaned the fact that agencies have allowed clients obsessed with short-term thinking to make decisions based on, “What can be measured, rather than what’s really important” and have become more risk-averse and likely to avoid those,”Big, Hairy Audacious Goals” of yesteryear. In a 2008 article for WPP’s The Wire, the modest but outspoken Steel wrote, “Clients have to learn to trust us enough to invite us in to share their secrets.”   

Today behavioural data is more likely to be a part of the agency’s strategic arsenal, with more and more agencies like Affinity, Atomic 212, CHE Proximity, Hallway and The Works, coupling with more finely-tuned creativity. For many creatives however the role of research remains a sticking point and part of the increasing conservatism client-side. David Ogilvy’s dictum comes to mind, “I notice increasing reluctance on the part of marketing executives to use judgment. They are coming to rely too much on research, and they use it as a drunkard uses a lamp post for support, rather than for illumination.”

Significantly, The Works, winner of the 2015 Grand Effie for their client Canadian Club (Beam Suntory) five-year long ‘Over Beer’ campaign stated, “We hate focus groups. So instead we spent time living with new recruits. We did this via extended one-on-one ethnographies, house parties with friendship circles, and video diaries. We learned the following things which, when mashed together, led to the three-pronged strategy.” Co-founder of The Works, Damian Pincus added, “Is it the why-notters – or is it the why-nutters – that move the world? My gut feeling is that CMOs and CEOs are changing as the world around them changes fast. Businesses like Uber, Facebook, Instagram, Tesla and Airbnb are forcing change in the way companies think. They realise that disruptive business models are disrupting their companies and so they need people and companies around them that challenge their thinking. Now is the time for creative companies to take back the mantle of driving business growth and put game-changing ideas in front of clients.”

Back to where we began with MLA and David Thomason in the red chair. As Matthew Melhuish recalled, “David was always prepared to back a creative idea, in this day and age of political correctness, safety first and covering your butt, he was a marketer prepared to back his judgement. He knew that to have the message heard, it first had to get noticed. He was prepared to take a creative idea others might not, and he had a strong commitment to the process of creativity. His agencies (that included BMF, The Palace and Host) and his team loved him for that.”

Next time you’re in a meeting. Any meeting. Try this: look around, listen and see if you can distinguish the ‘yes-butters,’ the ‘not-knowers’ and the why-notters.”

httpswww.facebook.comphoto.phpfbid=1703056226615127&set=a.1679382908982459.1073741826.100007322986410&type=3&makeprofile=1&profile_id=100007322986410&pp_source=timeline.jpgCBNAT NOV2016_COVER_Page_1_resizedagain.jpgGawen Rudder [right] is principal of The Knowledge Consultancy, Sydney. This article first appeared in Campaign Brief magazine.

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