Hasta La Creative!

Once again, Simon Mathews, currently chief strategy officer at West Coast shop, Extractable who’ s also worked at the likes of Isobar as well as Molecular on the strategy side during his career, is back with his monthly contribution to this here site. We’ll just let him explain the headline. Take it away, sir.

Every digital design / marketing project has a client. Not the most insightful of statement, I know.

And every client has the senior boss, the final sign off or at least the ‘key’ stakeholder.

Many times this senior stakeholder adds knowledge and value to the project, skillfully guiding the future campaign or digital experience inline with long-term business strategy.

Other times, not so much. This is when we enter the world of the mythical, but oh so real, Hippo (Highest-Paid-Person’s Opinion).

I first encountered a big-game Hippo more than 15 years ago while just a junior strategist working in the background (fetching coffee) on an Asian airline TV campaign. The last step of the mammoth production process was a viewing of the final commercial for the airline’s CEO.  It went well. He loved it. Then, this gem of a quote, “It would be better with harp music.”  I’ve never seen an executive creative director quite so speechless.

Today, with digital experiences we merge creative spark and data insight. And it’s this data that makes the challenges of the Hippo more obvious, but may also give us a path to success in the mud-wrestling arena.

continued…

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