When to Kill an Idea
Sometimes, it’s just not meant to be. In August, PlayStation manufacturers Sony released Concord, a huge multiplayer shooter whose development took around eight years and an estimated budget of $100m. Then, just twelve days after its launch, it was gone. Removed from the gaming giant’s online store, with refunds offered to the small number of players who had shelled out full price for the supersonic flop. For a litany of reasons large and small, Concord had missed the mark.
In advertising as in gaming, some ideas fail to land. There’s a distinctive skill in having those awkward, uncomfortable conversations around whether something just isn’t working out. Finding the right time to pull the plug and move on can be the crucial difference between minor setbacks and costly catastrophes.
To find out how it's done, LBB caught up with leading creatives from Mischief, FCB, VML, The Local Collective and Five by Five.
Bianca Guimaraes, founding partner and ECD at Mischief
We often talk to our clients about the danger of making what we call ‘Jaws without the shark’. In other words, removing the part of the idea that makes the idea interesting.
When we feel like the core of the idea is at risk and we get to a point where we know that the client isn't aligned with our vision, we let go of the idea. Not by giving up on making it great, but by killing it and telling clients we'll work on the next best idea together.
If our partnership is one in which we’re pushed to make ‘Jaws without the shark’, we know we’re not going to get the best out of each other.
Andrés Ordóñez, global CCO at FCB
It depends. I’ve gone through a lot of different ‘breakups’ with ideas over the years. There are ideas that you know will make the brand shine and become part of a wider conversation, but you need to move at the speed of culture, otherwise it’s now or never.
Then there are the ones that you know are transformative for the brand – you can already see the impact it will have on the business. Those ideas are hard to let go of, but you have to understand that sometimes the brand isn’t ready, or they don’t have the budget to produce it. If you continue to fight and you still can’t sell it, it will always haunt you. And sometimes, time passes, then a competitor does it. That’s truly when it hurts the most.
Which all begs the question, ‘when’s the right time to let go?’.
The truth is, if it’s the right idea – if you know in your heart it will impact the business or the world – then there’s never a ‘right’ time to let go. But if there’s truly nothing you can do to keep it alive, then you will have the chance to create something even bigger and better.
In any case, the death of a great idea should always be an opportunity to bring better ones to life, so you don’t miss them as much.
John Godsey, North American CCO at VML
First, ask yourself a few questions. Is it an idea you truly love or is it just a passing fancy? Do you find yourself obsessing about it constantly? In meetings? In traffic? When you tell the idea to others, do you see that instant connection? If they work in advertising, do you see envy? If so, you probably have an idea worth fighting for.
So fight. Relentlessly. Look for loopholes to sneak through. Use data to prove out its potential. Recruit anyone who will champion it with you. Race through every green or flashing yellow light within a hundred miles. But if you suddenly find yourself alone, surrounded only by red lights, be smart enough to tap the brakes. Don’t go down in a blaze of glory. But let it go? Kill it? Never. Just set it aside. Wait for the right time. Or perhaps, the right client. Know that these are the ideas that somehow, always find their moment. And that true love always stands the test of time.
Kaitlin Doherty, founder and president of The Local Collective
Every idea has a breaking point. And even though it might mean an uncomfortable conversation with a client, both parties should welcome the discussion.
Sometimes it's articulated that the ‘idea isn't good anymore’, but what's happening is that within the agency, the team is starting to worry about their recommendation and if it'll deliver the results they initially believed it could. My strategy is often to start having these conversations before we get to a breaking point.
Feedback can be a great thing - I have had many clients over the years push an idea to greatness. But I've also seen clients push ideas to breaking points and then hold the agency accountable for failing. Every idea has its own breaking point, and it's really important to bring the brand on the journey with you so that as a team you are all constantly aligned to the goals and objectives of what you are creating. A bad and boring idea is an expensive proposition for a brand. And no matter how you spin it, if the campaign fails, the agency will be the ones to hold the accountability.
So have the uncomfortable conversation. You have to be willing and open to hear what is making the client give so much feedback, and be brave enough to put up your hand and say ‘I think it's time we reconsider our way forward’. In this market and economy, we have to be bold and brave at both sides of the table, and as the agency, it is always our responsibility to make sure we can stand behind our work to deliver business results. If we don't feel we can do that at any point during development, then you have to put your damn hand up.
In my experience, nine times out of 10, that business savvy and care will be appreciated and go a lot farther than saying yes and letting something mediocre run.
David Prideaux, ECD at Five by Five London
Advertising is produced by committee. By the time it goes live, your brilliant idea will have been touched by many different hands. Some will try to ruin it, some will make it better than you dared think possible.
Will right prevail? You just don’t know. But there are enough people trying to kill your dream without you doing it for them. This is a percentage business. Fight tooth and nail to make your idea as good as it can possibly be. Then go and get started on the next one.
