“A committee is where good ideas go to die.”
I don’t know who said it, but I’ve got 30 years of experience that says “amen!” to it.
And since the success of your marketing depends on good ideas, it’s important to be aware of the quicksand dangers that the committee process poses to creative thinking.
Here are three of the most common ways that committees commit idea-icide.
1. The “We Are Amazing” Trap
When Robert Townsend, President of Avis, first proposed the line, “We’re number 2, we try harder,” his top executives were against it. Why? Because they didn’t want to admit they were number 2! Even though they were.
Employees are often proud of their company—and this can skew the way they evaluate marketing. Fortunately, Townsend understood that this line would connect with consumers, and they ran with it—and profited from it—for decades.
2. The “Armchair Quarterback” Trap
I worked with a client who would regularly pass new ads around to employees and ask for their input. It’s a nice idea—but there are some dangers.
Not everyone knows how to evaluate an idea. And when people are asked to analyze an ad, they sometimes become “armchair critics,” critiquing everything from the color the model is wearing to the type font.
The problem is, customers don’t look at ads this way. They don’t think like an advertising critic, they think like a decision maker. They respond based on whether they are interested in the product.
It’s one thing to be an “armchair quarterback,” to make decisions from the sidelines. But it’s quite another thing to be able to put yourself in the thick of things, where customers are actually making their decisions. The critic you want for your ads is the person who can put himself in that spot—imaginatively and empathetically.
3. The “We’ve Never Done It Before” Trap
Certainly it’s wise to be cautious before spending a lot of money on a new marketing idea.
But it’s also easy to kill a great idea simply by saying, “We’ve never done that before, how do we know it will work?” Or by saying, “We just don’t do things that way.”
There’s a time to be careful. But there comes a point where playing it safe is the most dangerous thing you can do because it will cause you to miss a big opportunity.
If you want to find new customers and grow your business beyond where it is right now, you’re going to have to take some smart risks and do some new things.
As the playwright Neil Simon said, “Don’t listen to those who say, ‘It’s not done that way.’ Maybe it’s not, but maybe you will. If Michelangelo had listened to them, he would have painted the Sistine Floor and it would surely be rubbed out by now.”
So how do you find and nurture good marketing ideas? I’ll talk about that next week.
