OPINIÓN- Bruno Cardinali: Fabricating The “Best Campaign”

As we work with our creative partners to develop new campaigns, I keep a very close and constant reminder to myself: to never lose sight of the art, the magic, the essence of an idea.

I say that because our industry has been dealing with an obsession for consumer testing over the past years but interpreted in a way that somehow seeks validation for the work being created from within brands and advertising agencies, versus a guidance to better inform your decisions.

And please don’t get me wrong, I am not advocating to stop consumer testing for advertising. I am super in favor of making sure that whatever goes out the door for my brands has the potential to provide the best sales return and build my brands. My watch-out is to avoid losing sight of the creativity & essence and of an idea, in lieu of a “mechanical” green score.

I say “mechanical” because with the advances made by research companies, in a super valid effort to have the best possible diagnosis for any given creative idea and to standardize methodologies and finally create a substantial database with clear benchmarks, we have been given access & visibility to how different creative elements or nuggets can have the potential to improve any specific metric. Which, in my point of view, it makes it somehow “easy” to fabricate a “good campaign”, meaning a high scoring campaign.

So, I always keep that reminder to myself: to never lose sight of the art, the magic, the essence of an idea. And if any given idea hasn’t performed well in a consumer testing, it might be the case to start again versus trying to fabricate a good scoring campaign and trying to achieve that “green score” no matter what.

Among many other elements, a fundamental piece of the work in developing unique & breakthrough ideas is to really get to know the people you are trying to talk to by investing the time to understand their motivations, insights, beliefs. To have a clear understanding of your brand’s purpose & positioning. And to stay true to the values & personalities of your brand.

This way we will feel much more confident about the work being produced and consumer research continues to be important step in the development process of a campaign, but with a clear role: to guide and inform the decisions being made by the brand team, whom is the best filter to judge if any given creative idea is true to their brand.

#creativity #marketing

by
Bruno Cardinali
Head of Marketing North America, Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen
Former Head of Marketing for Burger King Latin America & Caribbean