The search for gold
Is it possible for every problem to have a brilliant solution?
I ask that question as someone who, either as a copywriter, CD or author, is presented with a regular supply of challenges, the answers to which are plucked from a bucket that’s basically infinite.
So if you are given a brief for 25% off carrots, in theory you might be able to come up with an ad that is so unbelievably witty, so life-alteringly persuasive, so game-changingly original that it makes every single person who reads it stop in their tracks and run as fast as they can to the nearest Aldi.
In theory.
And it’s the same with every word or sentence you add to a novel: the possibility that you might surpass the greatness of Ulysses or Great Expectations is always on offer.
In theory.
Of course, we deal with limitations of talent and time, which makes the odds of the above happening very small. But the perpetual possibility is an interesting thing to deal with. If we go one more hour, one more day, one more week we might find the pot of gold.
Or not…
The work that’s on the table isn’t going to get worse, but will the search be worth it? And will the people involved in that search recognise the gold when they find it?
I think the impossibility of answering those questions is what keeps these tasks endlessly fascinating and endlessly frustrating: the gold might be out there, and the only way you can ever know is if you have a good hard look. Which might end in massive disappointment.
Five squared – off these root vegetables.
i know what you mean but experience tells me that the more important the brand is in people’s lives, the greater chance for gold.
if the brand is already defined, and consumers’ relationship with the brand is already defined, it’s much easier to create “gold”, as you put it. because everyone knows about it. and your work is going into an existing context.
then you’re just tweaking something that exists: awareness, probable trial and an opinion based on those things.
it’s a lot harder when you’re trying to initiate that relationship and you have necessary establishing stuff to do.
25% off carrots, or peas, just struggles to get out of the gate. nobody cares. never did, never will.
True: some briefs definitely seem more goldworthy than others.
So do we lower our expectations for the crappier briefs? When Tesco did that great everyday work ten years back judges (in the UK) seemed inclined to love it for getting over a very high bar.
Then no international jurors gave the first shit because they had no idea how high the bar was.
Ben – never forget *that* Cannes when Tesco picked up Gold and there was a near lynching at the Palais….
now that you’ve mentioned juries.
who defines what’s gold?
Sometimes looking for Gold is a complete waste of time a neither the CD nor the client would know it…
Hi Alvanta: I only mentioned juries for that example because I don’t know to what degree that work changed Tesco’s business.
I think there are many definitions of Gold, but overall it has to be ‘great success in whatever you’re trying to do’ (be that awards, increased sales or whatever).
A gold awarded by some of the no mark douchebags on juries these days is not the same as a gold awarded by John Webster or David “the Bott” Abbott or Dave “Trotty” Trott.