Why does the most absurd shit always happen when you think you've nailed an assignment?
In this case we were hired to create a direct marketing campaign for a fairly large company with a history of running perfectly ordinary work. We figured it wouldn't be too hard to flip their results into another realm.
I told the client if he gave us an open field to manipulate the big stuff -- concepts, media, segmentation, offers, data collection and so on -- we had a decent shot at transforming outcomes and introducing a more profitable model.
Without hesitating, he told us to go for it. Unfortunately, he wasn't serious about giving us the information or support we needed.
The first sign of trouble came when we asked to interview people inside and outside the company. Our client told us he was the ONLY person we needed to speak with; it would be pointless to interview anyone else.
Not willing to let a lack of cooperation stand in the way of marketing innovation, we marched on. In fact, we went hog wild with strategies and concepts. When it came time to present concepts, we showed nine ideas. The client seemed thrilled.
But several days passed without receiving a go-ahead. Then our guy called to say his boss wanted to speak with us. He clearly didn't want to tip his hand.
The "conference call" was really a one-way diatribe. This woman ripped into us for missing the brand elements they wanted to emphasize. But get this: They had recently hired a general agency that was in the process of putting together a new set of brand guidelines. She was criticizing us for not following a book that had yet to be written!
When I told her we had asked to speak with everyone involved in approving the concept and strategy, but weren't permitted to, she ignored the comment and continued her unjustified assault.
And what was our original contact doing during this verbal volleyball session? You guessed it. Nothing. He failed to mention that our concepts reflected his input. Or that he believed our stuff was in a different league than the mediocre work this woman regularly okayed. We were ambushed, pure and simple.
What do you make of this behavior? Has anything like this happened to you? And if so, how did you handle it?
