In the past ad campaigns used to be three executions with three headlines coming off one proposition.
These days that’s all changed.
Coming up with the overarching idea at the centre of the work is still the same but now you have to roll it out in different formats for different channels with different messaging. And it will often need to work for a year or two, continuing to evolve as the campaign runs.
It’s not an easy nut to crack.
It’s very easy to get lost in the weeds.
Making ‘step-backs’ invaluable.
That’s not a title that needs deciphering like the Times Cryptic Crossword. They’re very much what it sounds like.
Regular points where you stop working, pin up everything you have for the campaign along with a summation of the brief and bullet points of the mandatories.
Then cross-reference and compare it all.
I guarantee you’ll spot executions where the language or wording has changed and doesn’t match anymore.
Places where the layouts have shifted, losing consistency.
And messaging that’s talking at cross-purposes.
Mark it all up and you’ll quickly get back on track.
It’s a reset. It stops you from making the mistake of looking at each piece of work in its own right and not noticing you’ve introduced inconsistencies and errors.
It will also let you see what’s working the best, so you can do more of that. Making the work much better too.
And if you’re working on a campaign over the course of a few years keep all the finished work together in a ‘guard book’.
I’m not going to describe what that is as the title is as obvious as ’step-backs’.
