Page 182 - THE DO-IT-YOURSELF LOBOTOMY Open Your Mind to Greater Creative Thinking

21 Tips for Selling Creative Ideas 173

be people inside your company, outside your company, or both. And
not only should you set clear objectives, you should write them down,
because then it’s not a matter of “I like it,” “you like it,” or “you don’t
like it,” it’s a matter of “does this satisfy the objective?”
Yes, there’s still some room for interpretation there, but clearly
defined objectives remove most of the wiggle room that so often causes
misinterpretation and disagreement.
Believe me, this is very valuable, the writing-down part. If the
objectives are in ink before work starts, then both parties can’t sud-
denly have dramatically different recollections of earlier events.

Have Clear Roles. Written
Another thing to do is have clear roles in advance. It’s pretty simple.
Before you start the project, know who’s going to play the role of com-
ing up with the idea and who’s going to play the role of reacting to it,
providing guidance or buying the idea.
This may seem obvious if you’re the ideator—it’s my job to come up
with the idea, it’s your job to sell it—but if you have it clearly articu-
lated in advance, in writing, then in the heat of a discussion that does
not become an issue. If roles are not articulated clearly in advance and
you present your idea to someone who starts tinkering, things can get
kind of fuzzy and messy. You might say, “Hey, wait a minute, it’s my job
to come up with the idea. It’s just your job to react to it, and if you don’t
like it then I’ll go back and work on it.” That’s the wrong time to define
roles, because then it appears that you’re defending your idea, as
opposed to defending your role in the creative process.
Many organizations have different roles for what may appear to
be the same players. Even within the same industry and for identical
titles this is true. I see different companies in a given industry where
people with the same titles perform very different functions. So don’t
oversimplify this. Discuss it openly and write down the roles clearly.
This isn’t just a title thing, it’s a who’s-going-to-do-what thing, a
professional-boundaries thing. And we all know that good fences
make good neighbors.
The most abused title in the advertising business is that of creative
director. The creative director should be the person who has ultimate say
on things creative, but in many companies that person is not the creative
director—it’s the person the creative director answers to (the president,
the owner, whomever). Whereas the creative director may have the title,
the other individual has the authority. Even if I don’t agree with the cha-
rade, at least roles do not become an issue when selling ideas.