Today’s the day

Reflection Post (4/4)

After three unforgettable years at VCU, I graduate today with a BS in Mass Communications and a minor in General Business.

My undergraduate education may be over but not my research with this independent study. I want to continue talking to creative professionals about this topic as I go forward into finding a job, and hopefully being a part of the advertising industry. Just like before after I interview someone I will recap our conversations here to organize the information from all these very different perspectives. This way I can keep learning from the valuable experiences of others while starting to make my own outside of the classroom.

I owe a thank you to everyone I’ve talked to this semester. In a few days I leave for a 4 week long trip out of the country and I’m going to send notes from there because I owe so much to the 14 people who took time out of their days to meet with me or reply to my emails. Every single person I talked to had something important to contribute to this conversation. In the future, I hope I have the privilege of working with people just as kind, enthusiastic, and generous.

In a few hours I graduate from VCU, and I’m already excited to start working and see what happens next. I don’t know where I’ll be living after my lease ends in July, I don’t know what job or what agency, or how often I’ll move around. No matter what though I plan on giving back to VCU in the same ways advertising alumni have already. I know I’ve made it when I get to meet with an undergrad student that’s hoping to learn and be successful, and when I share my advice and my stories he or she feels the same excitement for the future that I did when I was 21.

Thank you Scott Sherman, Jessica Collins , and Thomas Scott for connecting me with people and Scott for giving me the opportunity and motivation to do this course.

14: Learning by doing

I’ve already met Oliver McCutchen, Associate Creative Director at Johnson Inc., briefly before in Jessica Collins Completeness class when he came in as a guest judge for our concept briefing and our final pitch to our client. So the only things I knew about Oliver before the interview was that he was a creative, Jessica loved him (which means he’s probably awesome), and he gave really good feedback.

Oliver’s story of getting into the advertising business is very different, mainly because he has such a diverse background before entering the industry from being a marine to running an art gallery. He started out in advertising in operations at the Martin Agency, then became a creative without any background in art direction/copywriting or other technical training. Oliver got a chance and took it. He said he was lucky to have great CD’s at Martin that taught him by example.

He defined good work as work that creates a thought change. It draws people in to engage a little further and inspires people to act. Similar to Brandon Viney, Oliver reminded me that advertising is really about selling a product, we aren’t changing the world. And as always, be authentic. As far as campaigns go, Oliver said bad user experience could destroy the creative. It could ruin any momentum that you may have.

Oliver gave me a great reminder about receiving feedback. He said don’t take it personal but if you need to step away go for a walk. Personally that has always worked for me when I’m stuck or frustrated, or need to organize my thoughts. Taking a walk, going for a run or bike ride especially, really helps bring everything back into focus or to see the big picture. There’s going to be challenging clients, tough CD’s, frustrating partners, but I’m always going to stay positive that it’ll work out.

Other Takeaways
-Copy others until you figure it out yourself
-Bring your own twist to your work, your own take on it
-A thought change could be done with color
-Have thick skin when receiving feedback

“Fail harder”

13: Branding is everywhere

So with this interview I could document a bunch of takeaways. We talked for awhile, but even feeling really under the weather I could still think of questions to ask Andy Stites long after our meeting was over. Andy is the Brand Manager at Carytown Bicycle Company, used to be an Associate Creative Director at Work Labs, and studied advertising undergrad at VCU.

Our conversation extended beyond his approach to feedback, but into creative branding. I’ve never before thought about being a brand manager and now I’m very aware that at the right company, working with a brand I like as much as Andy cares about Carytown Bicycle Company, I would love it. It seemed to have all the components that I like about advertising along with the things I like about business, except static. I think I would want the brand I was working on to change, unless it was something I was committed to.

During a class sophomore year, because I really love cycling, I chose to work on another bike shop brand in Richmond. I interviewed the owner to get a feel for their brand. Because of that project I think about a brand as a bicycle, visually and metaphorically. There’s all these parts and pieces that have to be together for it to function or to move the direction you want it to go. The better these parts and pieces are together, the better they work with the person riding it, then the more that’s put into it the more you’ll get out- no wasted energy. It’s a team, it’s a machine, there are goals and there are problems. Something breaks. Something new doesn’t fit in the setup. You can build one from pieces and you can take it a part. I could seriously go on, and I’m sure there’s holes in my analogy, but Andy’s opinions and stories reminded me of my analogy and my interest for branding.

If you can’t tell, I was really excited after this interview.

Below are some of most important takeaways from our conversation.

• Keep a positive mindset
• The work is either solving the problem or it’s not
• Empower people by framing the conversation in a way where they feel like they’re doing something in the right direction
• Don’t forget why you hired someone
• Sent does not mean received
• Everyone is good at something. How are they unique? Make the most out of it
• If there’s an excuse to reinvent or innovate- do it.
• Reach people in ways that aren’t normal
• Stand out. The work should be different and unique but universal.

There’s many more and some that others have mentioned such as using simple human truths, and the work shouldn’t feel forced or not genuine.

Since I still want to start my own creative consulting firm one day I asked questions about what it was like to work with clients that were small businesses or startups. The three questions to ask them are “Who are you? What do you do? Why does it matter?” with the last one being the hardest. Thinking about the future is really important with new businesses- “what would happen if tomorrow you didn’t exist?” or “what’s your screw?” are other questions to ask because it’s not just about solving current problems, it’s about knowing where you want to go and how the business can grow starting now.

An Undergrad Perspective

So in the last couple weeks of my senior capstone class called Invention (for the creative advertising track so campaign building for art directors and copywriters), I asked my classmates to fill out a survey I’d made on SurveyMonkey that has similar questions to the questions in the email interviews. I thought it would be interesting to ask them the questions I’ve been asking these creative professionals and see how the results compare at this point in our careers (or really before the start of most of our careers). I always bring up in my interviews that I only have a classroom perspective on advertising with some real world experience, but none agency side. It’s a narrow viewpoint that I know is going to expand with experience outside of class.

Out of those who answered the survey, most defined themselves as future copywriters

In response to what makes creative work “good” every answer was different but had some similar points. Most said in some way or another that it should connect with an audience and stay on brand. Others brought up how work can seem good but if it doesn’t have legs across various medias it isn’t.

What makes creative work good?

“Does it matter to the public? Do they get it, and care? If the world outside the walls of the agency don’t care about it, it’s bad. Might be good art, but it’s bad work.”

“When working with brands it’s important to understand that you’re speaking on behalf of them, either through visuals or words. With that in mind, when you approach something to make it creative, that idea of you are speaking on behalf of the client needs to stick with you. Anybody can be creative, it’s a matter of being creative while STILL being on brand. That’s what makes creative work good in a agency/design setting.”

The next question everyone but two people put something different which I found really interesting, because if I laid out in a table all the answers to this question from the creative professionals the majority would say “the concept” or “the idea” and then up next would be the strategy, with things like user experience and execution following.

What’s the most important part of a campaign and why?

The results, how it spreads.

The voice. The voice applies to everything, your copy and your visuals. If your voice is off the campaign will be off too.

The idea. If the idea isn’t good at it’s core then it will never withstand all of the weight it needs to carry in order to be successful.

Uniformity between content and process. It just looks good to show the process for anyone interested, but in a campaign everything needs to be cohesive.

The most important part of a campaign is the brand manifesto. Writing one helps you get a better grip on who your brand is.

The basic idea, because without it it’s just another ad.

impact on the viewer. you have to make something that will impact whomever you’re trying to talk to in some way. campaigns should also be cohesive and repetitive – but i think it still goes back to impact when a campaign achieves those things. which then goes further back to what makes “good art” – the connection!!

The brief. If you start with a bad foundation, all the rest of the work is going to be junk. It might be very pretty, well written junk, but it isn’t going to be useful.

All together this is a list of things we’ve learned in classes at VCU, the hard way in some cases. These are the parts of a campaign that really stuck as crucial to these students because of the work we do in class or depending on the professors we’ve had here.

How do you approach giving feedback to your partners?

Honestly and without judgment, keep it about the work

The standard. “Here’s what’s good, and then here’s what is bad” approach usually works. However, showing is better than saying. If you can visually show where to improve and how to improve within your feedback, that is ultimately the best way to go about it.

Constantly communicating your ideas. Ask if they understand what you are trying to say, keep trying to get on the same page. Partners that are not on the same page struggle. When I give feedback I start with what I think is working and then I try and build from that. If they love an idea or execution then they need to defend it.

I try to identify the core of what we’re working on and if it’s totally off base I’ll try to find the parts we can use and compliment those. If we get stuck I tell partners to pull out old stuff to see if we can glean any inspiration from a lost concept.

I can be a little too positive. I usually will only tell them the things I like.

Try to say what I like that they’re doing, but no they deserve honesty, and that I’d want it as well.

i don’t like to keep quiet about that i’m thinking, even if i don’t love an idea. i usually smile and try not to shut down any ideas – i’m a real “yes, and…” person.

Just do it. We’re all filled with giant egos, so we can’t worry about hurting feelings or whatever. So long as it’s coming from an honest place and not just trolling, just say it. The work being good matters more than the way the feedback comes out.

The questions about feedback had more similarities within the answers. VCU students have been told many productive ways to communicate to their partners, because that’s how we get the work done and how we make work we are proud of together.

The answer that stood out to me the most was “The work being good matters more than the way the feedback comes out.” because after all the interviews from this semester and the interactions I’ve had in class with my peers, I don’t agree with this statement. The work being good and the feedback being constructive, positive, (and also generally being aware of who’s listening) go hand in hand. Especially with your partner. Your good work comes from collaboration, from constructive conversations about it. I have no real world agency experience yet, but as long as there’s honesty, working together and being considerate of others seems like the best way to make the work better.

How do you receive criticism from your partners versus your professors? Is the feedback you get from your partners or your professors helpful?

It just depends on how you communicate. I think being specific and clear are the most important things but also not passing judgement on the individual/

I believe the feedback is all dependent on if whoever you are talking to has at least a minor understanding of what you’re working on. And I’m not talking about minor things like copy or color theory. You don’t go to a copywriting professor and ask them to critique your UI/UX layout for a new mobile app. Both peers and professors apply to this. Get the criticism from somebody you KNOW for a fact has worked on these things.

Yea feedback is always helpful. But you also need to know when you have something good even if it’s not being received well by one particular person. It’s a balancing act of when to make changes and when to stand firm on what you know is good. But you better know it’s good, or you just end up looking like a stubborn ass.

My partners don’t often give criticism mostly they like something or they don’t. All professors are great at providing feedback but few are good at providing direction. I think professors act as Creative Directors so it’s their job to say “I like/dislike this. Now do this with it and show up next week with better work.” All feedback is helpful in some way.

I receive feedback better from professors because I respect their opinion more but I know both have helpful things to say.

It depends. If they give some type of reason why they don’t like my work that is always more helpful. Then working on thinking of solutions together is always good. Sometimes professors are more intimidating, but I generally value their opininion a bit higher, and if I really feel what they’re saying is off base, then I’ll try prove to them why it’s not.

yes! i wouldn’t be a quarter as good as i am without feedback! i love feedback! i prefer to get it from my professors as that’s typically more concise and helpful, however peer feedback is super cool.

I don’t get much from the partners. We’re all tired, and worried about grades, and just trying to survive. We don’t really bother with feedback; we just keep making.

While these are completely anonymous, I started to realize who some of the students were based on their answers because I’ve been partners with many of them before.

As I read their answers I also realized I was thinking about what some of the people I interviewed would say back. I keep wondering about some of their opinions and whether or not they’d agree with some of these statements. I wonder what my professors would say too.

Statements like “all feedback is helpful in some way” or “i wouldn’t be a quarter as good as I am without feedback” are points many of the people I interviewed would agree with, especially the ones that have teaching experience.

Everyone answered the survey with strong opinions- no one seemed to struggle with the questions except maybe the second one. They all have an idea of what they think makes work good and feedback effective. I wonder how I would’ve answered this at the beginning of the semester versus now, or if I would’ve struggled with some of the questions back then. This independent study interested me for numerous reasons but one of them being the curiosity to hear opinions.

Before the semester ended I was hoping to share these answers with my classmates and compare it to the answers from the creative professionals but finals took over class time and my own time. I’m thinking about sending out this survey again in a year or so, after we all hopefully have jobs in the industry and real world experience, then we can compare how much we’ve changed.

12: Method to my madness

Similar to Thomas Scott’s interview, I sort of cheated a little with this one. I know Jessica Collins. She’s a Strategic Research Director at Good Run Research & Recreation, and worked previously at Free Agents Marketing, The Mom Complex, and The Martin Agency and attended the Brandcenter. But I know her from a course called Completeness. The first course where creatives and strategists are together and you’re teamed up to create your own agencies and compete for a client starting with research and ending with a final pitch.

Jessica is one of my favorite professors I’ve ever had at VCU and I learned so much from that class. She even got me in contact with a lot of amazing people over the semester, some I interviewed for this study that I’m not sure I would’ve ever met otherwise.

But we’ve never had this conversation before- How do you approach giving feedback? What’s the most important part of a campaign? How do you receive feedback (particularly from a strategist point of view from one of your creatives)?

Jessica described good work as work that causes excitement, and realizations that you never thought about something in that way or “holy sh-t that’s right” thoughts. It doesn’t have to be novel (something I think my classmates and I constantly try to achieve when we could keep it more simple). The most important part of a campaign is the structure to the idea, then the output of the campaign. It has to be smart AND creative.

Her approach to giving feedback as respectful and honest. Never give feedback and leave. Specifically with creatives- be appreciative.

Respect that time and energy went into the work.

It’s not personal. If a respectful relationship forms, then the communication will be more productive. Considering the plentiful amounts of positive comments about Jessica that I’ve heard from creatives she’s worked with- she does it right. Many still run ideas by her because they trust her feedback.

One of the most interesting points she made, that I haven’t heard anyone say yet, was about the process of receiving feedback. She said she aims to always be open and approachable for feedback from coworkers and students. She welcomes feedback to improve. The process is so inclusive that she’d never be blown away by feedback. It’s always an open conversation- she most likely already knows when they’re going to say no before they do. That’s so productive (and strategic) from my point of view as as student. I think it takes really strong social skills and emotional intelligence to build those types of relationships with people, and the work must progress forward because of it. There are a lot of creatives that say Jessica is the best strategist they’ve worked with, and I think it’s partially because she appreciates creatives, she knows how to inspire them, how to tell them what’s not working and what is, and makes it a two way conversation where they can be honest about a brief or the work or anything else.

11: Being honest is the humane option

The second email interview I had was with Heather Ryder, a copywriter at Wieden+Kennedy and another Brandcenter Alumni happy to give back to VCU. Originally I wanted to meet her while I was there in Portland but she was traveling, and I’m grateful that I still got to ask her a few questions.

I asked these 6 questions..

1. How did you get to where you are now? Why did you go into advertising?
2. What in your opinion makes creative work “good”?
3. What’s the most important part of a campaign?
4. How do you approach giving feedback or critiquing creative work? Is it different depending on who you’re talking to?
5. How do you receive criticism from your partner versus your CD or your client?
6. Is there any advice you have for someone starting out in advertising?

It’s interesting how you can tell when someone’s a writer or an art director as soon as you start talking to them, or reading their words. Maybe that’s hindsight bias and I know I haven’t talked to nearly enough people to defend that, but it’s still interesting how much emails or first impressions can reveal about a person.

Heather is definitely a writer. Her email hit every point with a sense of humor I wish I could’ve experienced in person. She hit one a few points that are immediate takeaways for me and I just want to lay them out for this post.

Firstly, while so much of advertising is subjective what makes it “good” for Heather is that it’s surprising or weird in some way.

“It’s hard not to feel like you’ve seen it all, so when something unexpected comes along, that’s really exciting.”

The most important part of a campaign, like most of the people I’ve talked to would agree, is the concept.

“With a good foundation, you can pretty much build anything.”

Because of that subjectivity though, critiquing work can be difficult. She said being honest is the best way to go “simply because you don’t want someone burning a bunch of time on an idea you don’t really like simply because you didn’t want to tell them you didn’t like it. It’s far more humane to just say it.“

That’s my favorite quotation from the email (hence my title) because that’s such a simple way of putting it. How much time is wasted because someone couldn’t be honest? Where is the progress when someone thinks something is working because no one has told them it isn’t? It’s true in school, in my classes, since the beginning of the advertising track. It’s true when I show my portfolio to people who want to be too nice. It’s true when I looked at Curiousness blogs this semester and left feedback- how do I tell them they’re missing the brand completely without being mean? If I don’t tell them, if their professors don’t tell them or their classmates, how will their work get better?

You can be honest without being a mean person (or as Heather put it, a “heartless beast of a person”).

As far as receiving feedback, no matter who it’s from, don’t get defensive. Defend the idea but try to understand why someone doesn’t like it or “what they have at stake on their side of the equation” to have a constructive conversation.

“When something comes from such a personal place (your own brain) it’s hard not to feel like it’s a personal attack on you when someone doesn’t like something. But it’s rare that someone would use a critique as a personal attack. And if they do, they’re probably an asshole.”

And finally, another big takeaway from Heather’s informative email was that “you always want to be the person people want to work with” and if you are, opportunity will come your way. 

10: The Context of Feedback

This week Benjamin Wyeth, a copywriter at The Richards Group, took time out of his work day to Skype with me from Dallas, Texas. While I wish I could meet everyone in these interviews in person, I’m grateful tech like Skype exists so that we can still have face to face conversations from far away.

Through our conversation Ben brought to my attention something I’d been thinking about during the other interviews, but hadn’t really defined outwardly or simply. In giving feedback, it’s important to see the context of the conversation. The environment, the people involved, the type of work, etc.- all shape how the feedback will go. How you explain your work to a CD may be very different from how you show a client. How you give feedback will change when you’re talking to a student verses a partner or someone in a position of authority because of the dynamic between you two. Ben has experience in the industry and in teaching advertising at the college level. As a professor he is in a position of guidance with his feedback- his critique is constructive rather than evaluative, because of his goals as a professor.

With his partner, the context from their history together is established and understood. It’s so well tuned that there is unspoken feedback through facial expressions and familiar honesty. Your relationships between people are affected by time. New partners versus old partners. Beginning of the semester with students versus the end of the semester.

Other aspects that set up context are guidelines or parameters for the work. How much room is there to experiment or push an idea? What’s the budget? Pressures come from those guidelines because in the real world (unlike the classroom) you don’t want to lose the account and there are real financial repercussions. While time spent with someone can influence how you give and receive feedback, pressure also changes conversations and the approach to the work.

However, regardless of context, it’s important to be constructive with feedback, sometimes it’s necessary to be destructive. Share and listen. Be honest. Be comfortable. Be appropriately assertive. Be an advocate for the idea. 

Being constructive is essential, sometimes it requires being destructive.

Other Things to Remember
-Having a 4.0 GPA doesn’t mean anything in the industry if you can’t make good ideas.
-No such thing as objective creativity
-There are tedious parts to every job, even the ones you love

 

VCU Student Commons before interview over Skype

9: Art with a purpose

Jedidiah Prillaman, an Art Director, who was working at Humanaut in TN, and is now working at VML in Kansas City, answered a few questions for me over email for my project.

I asked these 5 questions..

1. How did you get to where you are now? Why did you go into advertising?
2. What in your opinion makes creative work “good”?
3. What’s the most important part of a campaign?
4. How do you approach giving feedback or critiquing creative work? Is it different depending on who you’re talking to?
5. How do you receive criticism from your partner versus your CD or your client?

I’m not going to post his answers here verbatim, but summarize some main points and as always, include the things that stood out the most to me in regards to the project.

Jedidiah describes himself as a creative person that loved the idea of mixing creativity and business, describing advertising as “art with a purpose” which appealed to me because of how similar it is to my own thought process for deciding to study advertising in college.

This statement continues in the rest of his questions, describing what makes good work is that it has a purpose. Good work reaches goals, it solves problems, and starts with a human truth to connect with people on an emotional level and make it memorable.

“The best advertising starts with a human truth – something that people can relate to and gives the campaign credibility and honesty.”

He broke down question 3 into two parts- media and creativity. The most important part as far as medias, varies from project to project dependent on “the problem, the brand, the target, and the solve”. In regards to creativity, there isn’t a single most important part to Jedidiah but rather parts that work together- “the most important parts of a campaign are a smart strategy, the human truth behind the campaign, the original and emotional ideas, and the quality of the craft”.

My favorite answer came from question 4-

“There really shouldn’t be a difference based on who you’re talking to – whether it’s your creative director, the president of the company, the client, ect. – it’s all the same work and your opinions are valuable to everyone involved in the work. It’s definitely easier to give feedback to my writer because we are so close and on the same level but it would be the same feedback that anyone else would need to hear.”

He also talked about how he critiques work, going back to what he said makes creative work “good”. He looks for holes based on his earlier requirements- is there a human truth? Does it make sense for the brand? Does it all tie back to the strategy? Does the media make sense for the idea and for the target? If there’s uncertainty, he asks questions to see which parts need to be revisited or are worth exploring further. The craft itself is also crucial to critique, and decisions about the execution (fonts, colors, copy voice, layouts, etc.) are important to the outcome of the campaign.

The way he receives criticism also ties back to looking for holes in the work. He states that he feels comfortable with his partner, and it’s easier to find the holes in their work together before they show it to anyone else, like a CD. Like most would agree, it’s ideal to be positive and honest with our feedback in order to be encouraging. While criticism from a CD can be more nerve-wracking than feedback from a partner, if it’s a good CD then he/she makes it comfortable experience to try and get the “best work out of us”.

The conversation with a client about the work can vary from being on the same page, to not at all. My follow up questions for Jedidiah will be about his experiences with clients that shut down ideas that he thought were good, and how you deal with that in the industry.

8: What’s going to come out of this?

On April 25th, I had the pleasure of joining Maryann Neary Gill, a freelance copywriter, for breakfast at 821 Cafe. Similar to me, Maryann liked art and decided to go into advertising because she enjoyed creative work and creative people. She started out writing copy for department stores, worked in PR with special events and promotion, then worked agency side and freelanced for agencies working with clients in tourism, health care, banking, and so on.

Maryann said the most important part of a campaign was that it was on brand. A business’s mission statement expressed through advertising. She’s the first person I’ve talked to that said being on brand was the important part, and referred the importance of a business’s mission statement. However, one of my classmates uses missions statements constantly to get a feel for brands, or to rebrand them. Maryann talked about how mission statements, or conversations with the founders, can initiate a connection with smaller businesses.

There’s a “passion overload” with smaller business which is something I personally get very excited about and is one of my favorite parts about branding.

Something that’s more challenging to do with bigger businesses, which is partially why she prefers to work with agencies as clients so they’re responsible for that connection and communication with a big client.

One of my favorite quotes from Maryann is that “everyone has an interesting perspective on things” because it reminds me why I am doing this independent study.

Another important piece of advice was when you’re in a partnership that is a negative experience, “ask yourself what’s going to come out of this?” because it the work has to be done, and you just have to keep going and focus on the work and not the other person.

Takeaways
-Keep a notebook of ideas to look back on for inspiration
-Presentation is important
-use Creative platforms to help define direction of a campaign

821 Cafe- Richmond, VA

7: Building camaraderie

While I have been aiming to go out of my comfort zone and talk to people I’ve never met, I realized there are some of my favorite professors that I’ve had at VCU that I haven’t had a conversation with on giving feedback.

One of my past professors I decided to reach out to is Thomas Scott. Thomas Scott is a professor at VCU, Brandcenter alumni, and also runs a small business and does other side projects including the production of an upcoming podcast. I had him for one of the first classes in the creative track called Story and one of the last called Style. His approach to giving feedback changes over time with his undergrad students, as everyone gets to know each other and how they improve with their work.

In Story, feedback is very different from in Style. As a class we shared stories and wrote pieces, and our peer to peer feedback as well as Scott’s feedback was always positive. That positivity in the beginning was crucial to all of us to individually feel like we were capable of contributing something valuable. It was a motivator, especially for someone relatively reserved like me, to share ideas in class. Without sharing ideas, without feeling comfortable and confident enough to have any discussions, our work would not have moved forward. The positivity also builds camaraderie, which by Style makes giving feedback more straightforward. Our work is held to a higher standard, we know things we didn’t in Story, and we also all know each other making the conversations easier. He described the relationship between feedback and education as positively correlating over time- the better you get at what you do the more is expected of you and the harsher (but never personal) the critique.

“You have to find something kind”

In terms of branding, Scott stated that costumer service was the most important part of creative work and business. It reminded me of a Berglund seminar I attended a couple weeks ago, where the speaker talked about Moments of Truth by Jan Carlzon. In the book, Carlzon describes customer service over the phone at a failing airline. He says the average time a customer talks to the airline is 15 seconds, recreating the brand each time.

“SAS is ‘created’ 50 million times a year, 15 seconds at a time. These 50 million ‘moments of truth’ are the moments that ultimately determine whether SAS will succeed or fail as a company. They are the moments when we must prove to our customers that SAS is their best alternative.” (Jan Carlzon, Moments of Truth)

While Scott’s rule #1 for advertising was a strong concept, he also stressed the importance of connecting to the consumer within branding. I completely agree that the relationship with your consumers is crucial to the business succeeding, and it’s interesting to think about advertising’s role in that dynamic.

Takeaways
– We are all trying to succeed
-Don’t internalize feedback
-Be nice to everyone