Case study
Strategic Creative Solution
Johnson & Johnson
Context
Summer was coming. So all Brands related to skin care for baby were about to launch their campaigns.
Challenge
As a challenger, how can Johnson & Johnson compete with giants? Especially with a market-leader such as Nivea? The client was very humble and honest and said it wasn’t an easy challenge to take up. The client said: “We need something creative”. “Creative” means different things to different people. Translation: “We need a disruptive approach, we are open to new ideas”. In the advertising industry, we all have heard that kind of phrase. Usually, when the day of the presentation comes, as agencies, we all are disappointed. But for once, it wasn’t the case.
Strategic Creative Solution
the Untold Story behind the pitch
The untold story behind the pitch.
We locked ourselves in one of a meeting rooms of the agency for the brainstorming, exploring some directions. Sounds “cliché” right? It is. Honestly, it went no where. It was a simple and boring job about media booking. And then, I came up with the beginning of an idea. So I explained it to the team composed by Client-Service & Planner people. No one understood. And to be honest, me neither. But I convinced them that I gonna come up with something. I just needed an incubation period (some hours) so my conscious can process the information and “talk” to my subconscious.
The presentation was imminent, so everyone felt quite pressured. So I suggested the team: “We have a safe option, let’s present it to the client tomorrow in the morning and about the “idea” I have in mind, let me kraft it over night”.
I remember I was in a flow state mode during a part of the night. Suddenly, I saw the sunrise through the window. I had no idea about how the client would react to the idea. If some Creatives from the other competitor agencies would be confident by presenting their ideas, it wasn’t the case for me at all. I was tired, but happy about the extra mile.
When the idea was presented through some simple slides and explanations, the client sat back, arms crossed she kept silence for a few seconds. The atmosphere in the room was very strange because no one guessed what the client would think. At that moment, like in a movie: I “saw” the client looking at us saying “You guys are kidding me right? Get out of this meeting room immediately”. Back to the reality, the client started to speak, resuming the idea. Agains all odds, the client looked at us and she said: “We can combine that idea with the previous one. That’s a creative idea. It’s what I wanted”.
Lesson learned
from that experience
I was inspired by what a CEO of a global agencies said: “As a creative, do your job of creative. The Client will do its job of client. As a creative, it’s your job to trust your guts and to say what you have in mind”. What she meant was, your worst censorship is yourself. “Creativity takes courage” (Henri Matisse), so dare to get out of your head into real life, and say what you have to say. In short: dare to dare.
What ever you think your idea is valuable or not, trust your guts and share your thoughts. Until today, I do believe I was lucky to meet a client who was aligned with us in term of strategic thinking. We won the pitch.
Credits
Agency: Reach
Creative Director: mynkao
Account Manager: Giang
Planner: Tam
Advertiser’s website:
johnsonsbaby.com.vn
