Developing a Strategic Platform - You Can t Just Wing It

David Hadeler
MARC USA Dallas
President & CEO

Art, Science or Discipline?

Advertising is exclusively neither an art nor a science. It is part art, part science, and perhaps even a greater measure of discipline. If you don’t have a disciplined approach to developing a strategic platform, it will be impossible to produce quality material over a long period of time.

The essential tactics for this type of disciplined approach are many: Hiring, training, firing, strategy development, creative development, media development, account service, research; how you follow up with your clients on a day to day basis; the processes you use within your agency; the financial discipline you have within your company; how you approach developing a real partnership with the client; how you approach developing an understanding of their products or services. So, discipline isn’t something that’s nice if you have time for it; it’s mandatory. You can’t just wing it.

In years past, advertising agencies have had the reputations of being free-thinking, free-wheeling, free-spending bastions of creative largesse where folks think, do and create great things all day long. But anyone who has worked in the business knows that the creative part is the figurative tip of the iceberg: It only represents about 10% of what we do. The rest of the time is spent learning, researching, understanding, and massaging information so that we can actually deliver a message that makes sense and produces results.