MAKING SNOWBALLS OUT OF ICE. 7.3.06
Do any of you recall, in your snowball fighting days, the rare occasions where some neighborhood idiot would pick up a chunk of ice and try to make a snowball out of it? If you packed enough snow onto it, then sure, it would look the part. But once heaved, the sad truth would come out, as well as the unfortunate recipient's blood on most occasions. Then, of course, you'd all have to reprimand the sender of the malicious ball with something like, "there's a million fucking pounds of snow on the ground, and you just spent twenty minutes trying to make ice look like snow??"
Turns out that not only did those jackasses ignore our criticism entirely, but worse, they became the heads of all the corporations we work for. And what they used to do with ice, they now do with product design and branding.
If you have a bad idea in the advertising/design world, it will usually become apparent very quickly. Don't take offense. Don't worry about the dollars you wasted on your horrible design or misguided promotions. Just scrap it, and come up with something else. Admit that in a field full of snow, you somehow managed to pick up a chunk of ice. Sure, you're an idiot, but if you drop the ice immediately, there's a good chance no one will notice your mistake. It's a bigger risk to pile more and more money into a losing concept, just to create enough positive spin that sales creep into the black, than it is to just spend good money (albeit more money) on reinventing the product or idea.
I recently found myself caught in the middle of one of these iceball comedies, where a financial company had asked me to do some promotional material for their "Identity Theft Kit". Of course, my initial thought was:
- "So... this kit shows you how to steal someone's identity?"
- "No (chuckles all around), it's to prevent identity theft."
- "Right. So howbout we call it an 'Identity Theft Prevention Kit.'"
- "No no, we already did the package design for it... just use the name as-is."
- "Well, I think the point needs to be made that most people would be looking to buy an 'Identity Theft Prevention Kit', not an 'Identity Theft Kit'. Beside being confusing, don't you think it will cast some concern in the minds of the customers? I mean, what are you selling here?"
- "(Bewilderment and frustration ensues) ...look, we already spent thousands of dollars marketing this; the package is already designed and everything, so just work with it."
- "Okay. If you were afraid of possible terrorist attacks, would you rather buy a 'Guide to Terrorism', or a 'Guide to Terrorism Prevention'?"
- "You're making this out to be bigger than it is. If we market it in the offices and online, they'll buy it. Doesn't matter what the name is."
- "Possibly. Just seems to me that you're putting your fate in the hands of the consumer if you put the wrong thing out there and hope it works simply because it's out there."
Suffice it to say, I didn't get that gig. I really should just keep my mouth shut. Anyway, the point is, it's never "too late" to scrap a bad concept. There is only the perception of it being too late, because you've spent so much time and effort piling the snow on, that you might as well just finish it off and throw it, right? Well, just remember that for every kid who threw ice packed in snow, there's the other kid who threw frozen dog poop packed in snow.
Ok, that last part didn't make any sense. At least, not to me. Maybe you gleaned something from it though. If you did, let me know so I can change the ending of this post to something more climactic. There's some meaning in there, I'm sure. Dog poop, one-upmanship, early bird gets the worm, something something.