RT Posts entry on 11.05.09
Asleep at the Wheel?
Tim Rodgers
Ordinarily, I wouldn’t think we could learn a whole lot about how to improve advertising from people who make mattresses, given that we try to keep people from falling asleep.
But then, I came across an article in USATODAY on Monday about how Sealy has used Lean Manufacturing to turn around their business model, and it hit me like a pillow. There were some inescapable similarities to the challenges we face, and some real nuggets to be mined if we just kept an open mind.
It got me thinking about our process for developing (not manufacturing) creative solutions for our clients, and how inefficient that can sometimes be. Being in a creative business, we rightfully want to allow for that less-than-linear magic to happen, but just maybe there are ways to make the process more efficient and fulfilling than just giving creative people a creative brief and then trying to stay out of their way.
Judging ourselves against a Lean Manufacturing mantra of “continuous improvement,” I’m not so sure we’re any better at the creative development process than we were 10 years ago. Or even 25 years ago. Oh, we use technology better, and our agency has been truly integrated across disciplines for many years, but I don’t know that we’ve improved the creative development process itself at all in that time.
Now, those mattress makers have me dreaming of an agency where 33% more of our time is spent truly addressing client opportunities. Where no one in the organization spends any time waiting around for another department to pass along the “work in process.” Where we break down assignments into tasks that can be attacked by teams, at the same time leaning, no pun intended, on their special talents only when necessary, and availing ourselves of our greater talents when not.
There are all kinds of ways that this continuous improvement model can take shape: from how we analyze an assignment; to a better analysis of what each client expects; to better matching the assignment to the particular skills of a particular team; to the closer monitoring of where we are at every stage of the development cycle.
The goal isn’t less magic; it’s more. For the less time we spend on meetings and activities that don’t improve the final product, the more times we’ll develop truly remarkable ideas.
And the better we’ll sleep at night.
If 32 years in the business has taught Tim anything it’s that he still has a lot to learn. Tim has worked with preeminent marketers like AT&T, Visa USA, Anheuser-Busch, The Hartford, Microsoft, Holiday Inn, ConAgra and General Mills as well as running an agency for the past 13 years. His guiding principle: “The pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; the optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” — Sir Winston Churchill.
