Bullet proof but don’t compromise
I’ve found myself using the phrase ‘bullet proof’ a lot recently.
The usual context involves something like, ‘We should make sure we add a chicken towards the end to make sure we bullet proof the script’ (that is not a real example).
I sometimes say it when I’m asking annoyingly thorough questions regarding someone’s work: ‘I just need to know why you’re choosing the colour blue so if anyone asks me then the ad is a little more bullet proof’.
99% of the time I’m just asking the person doing the work to think about why they’ve made each decision that’s led to what they’re showing me. If they can’t explain something then I could find myself in the same position somewhere down the line and the ad will become vulnerable to being killed (ie: not bulletproof). I think it’s a good exercise even if I never get asked the question. Everything should be added to a piece of work for a good reason, so lets make sure we’re aware what the reasons are. That helps to stress test the work and make it strong enough to repel any potential kicking it may receive on its way to production.
Ultimately it’s very hard to entirely bullet proof a piece of work because there will inevitably be subjective decisions that might or might not be liked by me or the next person, but since an ad is put under so much scrutiny during its creation, if you can give it some protection then that’s a GOOD THING.
Of course, one must avoid the pitfall of adding things that are unnecessary. By second guessing the wants of a client it’s easy to alter an ad in ways that don’t serve it. To continue the analogy, if you weigh it down with too much armour it becomes unwieldy and can stagger only as far as the nearby shit-filled bog, where it collapses and drowns like a hapless CIA torture victim.
So it’s a balance: making the ad solid enough to go unviolated but not so solid that its strengths become compromises.
Good luck with that…
I really think that is at the heart of being a good CD. You need to pick the right idea and then protect the work to make it ‘un-fuckupable’.
For instance, scripts that rely on casting, tend not to be bulletproof. You want a bloke who looks like Eddie Izzard, the client wants someone who looks like Eddie Redmayne. You only find this out when it’s too late.
I always thought Sony ‘Balls’ was a good example of this. Once you understand the simplicity of what’s being made, it’s kind of hard to ruin.
Why is it Blue?
Because Blue is best.
Why is blue best?
It looks better.
Why?
It just fucking does OK.
So when the client asks me why it’s blue I just tell them it “Blue is best?”
Yes.
They won’t accept that.
Call them cunts then.
I can’t do that either. Hmmmm.
Why don’t we say “You hired us to make decisions like this on the assumption that we are better at making these decisions than you are. Blue, in our opinion is better than any other colour.”
Hmmm. That won’t work either.
Why don’t we ask them what colour they want and then do whatever they say?
Yes. Great idea. That’s why you get the big bucks.
Years ago, at the height of the madness of Fallon London, there was a huge meeting about the future of Sony. Not just its tenure at the agency, but its ‘vision’ for the next 10 years or so. Dozens of people were packed into a fairly tight, slightly tangy, meeting room. After the very long presentation from the then MD, the question was asked whether anyone had any thoughts.
Now Juan wasn’t known for his public speaking. In fact, like ‘Jeremy’ in the Pearl Jam song, he didn’t really say much at all. So it was with some surprise when he was the first to pipe up in his unmistakable whisper… “I am… thinking… ‘blue'”.
And that was it. He didn’t elaborate. He just stared sagely into the void. But, I kid you not, about 20 people wrote the word ‘blue’ down on their pads. It was like Chauncey Gardner from Being There.
The meeting broke up. There were smiles of relief. Joy even. Only one person, (and you know who you are JT), dared venture the point that ‘blue’ might not, in that context, actually mean anything. But he said it quietly, and afterwards, knowing how dangerous it could be to appear ‘off message’.
Blue. It can be powerful.
Stories like that make me glad to be alive.
i agree with Adam T. there’s an art to coming up with ideas that are universally liked but offer little room for interference, yet tons of executional freedom. i’m not saying it’s easy mind.
@ Adam T Nice story.
reminds me of the Mike Nichols story after he made The Graduate – he could speak to any film exec in Hollywood about wanting to make a film about a man who walks under a Green Awning, and everyone thought it was a genius idea.
Ben, great post.
I remember sitting is a drama class aged circa 12. We were sat cross legged in a circle with the drama teacher. She said we were going to play a word association game.
Mrs Atter explained that she’d say a word and the next person would say whatever word came into their head. So off we went and she said ‘Blue’ and the next person Adam Bayliss said ‘Off. People really were ROFL.
When ever I hear the world blue I think of that day.
@Jim: I recall an Economics A-Level class I was in where the teacher began a sentence ‘A big firm…’
As he searched for the next word I helpfully suggested, ‘Pair of tits?’
@ben Good work.