None of your business.
Why objectivity matters in marketing.
One of the most fulfilling aspects of working in agencies for 16 years was getting to serve a diverse range of clients, from a public servant in the TN Governor’s office, to mid-level marketers trying to scale their careers while navigating large corporations, to entrepreneurial startups and small business owners trying to stay in the black.
Agency players can be powerful resources for clients because they have the benefit of perspective—they’re not mired in the day-to-day, and can (or SHOULD) see the forest for the trees, but also know exactly how many board feet could be harvested from the stand (there’s a little forest management analogy for you).
But where agencies can run afoul of brands is when the assigned team members believe their personal values and worldviews should inform how a brand shows up in the world.
This lack of objectivity is perhaps most pronounced in the strategist role because lending subjective values to another company’s brand is antithetical to how a good strategist operates. It’s a strategist’s job to maintain objectivity while conducting research. Yet, all too often, I’ve witnessed young strategists frame ideas and opinionated solutions as just that: ideas and opinions about how the world should be, rather than how it is. Blinded by their own worldview, they miss opportunities for a brand to stand out in the real world among real consumers who often think, believe, and behave differently than a strategist living in a B-market, working in a marketing agency.
Once upon a time, I was working with a junior strategist on a water bottle brand that wanted to challenge a category leader that was enjoying a run as a lifestyle brand. Targeting the $6.8 trillion (global) wellness industry seemed like an obvious pivot for our client:
Wellness wasn’t/isn’t a passing fad
Team members were seeing our client’s brand of water bottle in every gym and spin class they attended
Positive Amazon reviews from existing customers predominantly related to wellness
Hydration is foundational to wellness, and wellness-obsessed people are also obsessed with hydration
The approach was painfully obvious, yet the junior strategist aggressively opposed this direction, citing that wellness wasn’t for everyone (followed by a personal story about their current struggle with fitness, conflating it with wellness), insisting that a wellness-centric message may not resonate with Gen Z (ignoring the purchasing power and influence of a few other generations). The young strategist thought their personal situation and worldview should somehow influence the client’s brand and business. They made it personal when in reality, the opportunity had nothing to do with them.
I’ve seen creatives fall into this same hubris trap, somehow perceiving that clients pay them to inject their sociopolitical opinions or personal situations into brands and campaigns, rather than channeling observational insights and creative solutions into marketing that drives behaviors and decisions.
If you want to influence society and politics, make art, join a protest, pop off on social media, or call a senator. But if you want to serve clients and grow accounts, then make sure your team doesn’t get it twisted: the client’s business needs matter most, and audiences are comprised of real humans who likely think, act, and live differently than you. This friction can yield incredible opportunities for creative problem-solving, as long as team egos can stay out of the way.