by Alistair Mokoena (@AlistairMokoena) Every profession has its defining moment, a moment when stakes are at their highest. We refer to these moments as the moment of truth.
For engineers, this is the moment when they test their prototype for the first time. For artists, it is the opening night of an 
exhibition. For musicians, a listening session is a moment of truth.
For marketers, the moment a consumer interacts with a brand for the first time constitutes a moment of truth. For those of us in the advertising world, the moment we present work to a client is our moment of truth.
Nerve-wracking
I’ve been in enough boardroom discussions to know that the advertising moment of truth is as nerve-wracking for clients as it is for agencies. In fact, for many people in marketing and advertising circles, this is the moment they dread the most. This is because it puts their capability to the test.
For marketers, the creative product is a culmination of a long, tedious and challenging strategy development process. It is proof that their strategy is sound and executable. It is a physical manifestation of what marketing does.
It is also a reflection on the quality of a brand manager’s brief. And as we know, crap in crap out! This is when clients start doubting their briefs and wishing they had spent more time crafting their brand strategy.
Reflection of ability
Another reason this moment of truth is stressful for marketers is that it is a reflection upon their ability to choose an ad agency. Everyone wants to partner with an agency that is strategically strong, creatively hot and good at sticking to the budget. This is important when you consider the pressure that clients face from their non-marketing colleagues back at the ranch, who judge them on creative product.
These non-marketing colleagues often underestimate the value of marketing, and are quick to dismiss advertising as needlessly expensive and time-consuming. This is because they don’t understand the advertising process and therefore have unrealistic expectations about how long things take and how much they cost.
The last thing a client needs is for its agency to live up to this ill-informed stereotype.
Skin in the game
For ad agencies, they have skin in the game. Their reputation and self-esteem are on the line. A lot of blood, sweat and tears go into the creative process.
This high level of personal investment leaves agency teams feeling insecure, vulnerable and less than confident the night before a big creative presentation. Not exactly the best state of mind ahead of a stage performance! I’ve heard even the most-experienced ad guys confess to having pre-presentation butterflies, a confession that is always followed by the old adage, “You are only as good as your last ad.”
With all this anxiety and worry going through the mind, many marketers battle to sleep the night before a big creative presentation by their agency. So how do we make this moment of truth more fun and less stressful?
Need to tackle together
We need to tackle the problem together, as agencies and clients. We need to walk in each other’s shoes.
Marketers’ needs are broader than just a great piece of creative that will sell loads of products. They need help in raising the profile of marketing and the value of advertising in their organisations.
Let’s start exposing our clients’ non-marketing colleagues to the advertising value chain. Invite them as observers to a pre-production meeting so they can see what goes into making a 30-second commercial. Invite them to a shoot so they can see what a painstaking process this is. Arrange for them to spend a day at a production house and a day in an edit suite so they can see where the money goes.
And, lastly, get them to shadow a creative team for a day so they can see how hard it is to come up with a big idea.
How do we ensure?
So how do we make sure that creative teams are amped, psyched and enthused ahead of a creative presentation to clients?
Again, partnership is the way to go. The creative process has to be based on a strong sense of partnership. Accountability must be clear and personal; however, ownership must be shared by agencies and clients.
Tissue sessions are a must. It helps for clients to bounce off their strategies on agencies before a brief is written.
It’s also great for clients and agencies to write the brief together. Once briefed, agencies must bounce off their initial thoughts on clients, to ensure alignment. Alignment is achieved when the creative strategy reflects a consumer insight that matters and promises a solution that is believable.
Element of surprise
In recommending that agencies take clients into their confidence prior to the big creative presentation, I’m not suggesting that the creative process should be dull and predictable. The element of surprise is important; however, a tissue session can help improve the odds of a successful creative presentation.
A tissue session is merely directional. It’s not aimed at exposing the full extent of the idea. It cements the partnership by creating a sense of co-ownership of the idea.
A creative presentation should not feel like a harrowing presentation to a panel of judges, whose sole purpose is to criticise and intimidate. It should feel like a working session between teams that are driven by the same hunger to produce award-winning work that captures imaginations and builds strong brands.
So let’s start working closer together to ensure that the moment of truth delights and excites.
Alistair Mokoena (@AlistairMokoena) is a Unilever-trained Chartered Marketer with lots of blue-chip marketing experience. He’s currently MD of Draftfcb Joburg. Mokoena contributes the monthly “The Switch” column to MarkLives.com.
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