Managing Mr. Big Ideas

A query came across my desk..."How do you manage the 'creative genius'?" The implication being: they're too disorganized, their ego is too big and they seldom get their paperwork in, much less on time. 

First of all, let me clarify my position...    "I am THAT guy."

Today, I run my own company, and, I suspect, your "genius" has similar designs someday. That said, he's on your team now and is disrupting the normal workings of the company, despite all the good he can do by the speed of his intellect or a talent he possesses. These kinds of people don't live in the same boxes as the rest of your employees, nor do they see their contributions in the same ways. They love to focus on the brilliance of their ideas, forgetting that the execution of it is most important to legitimate success. And, they would see a failing of their idea as the product of someone else's inaction, and not their own.

Discipline (shame, fear, intimidation) seldom works for these guys. Why? Because they'll see a superiority position OVER the disciplinarian. They may be recoiling on the outside, but on the inside, they're thinking, "If you were so smart, why didn't you come up with the idea yourself?"

The way you need to handle this person is with education — but that's putting it mildly. The kind of education this person needs, and the kind you have to give needs to be just as ingenious as this person's wit. Telling them that their paperwork is crucial to the effort will fall on deaf ears and idle hands. They'll see nothing crucial about sending off the communication to their co-workers, the harm in not booking their time on the project... they live far too often at the center of their own universe. You'll need to jump into that center and shake it up a bit.

Play to their pride, their ego and their intellect.

Tell them that it's not enough to have the idea. Their ideas and designs need to be handled in such a way, that anyone on the team can grasp what they have to offer. Their "job" is not just to be brilliant, but to make the work around their idea just as brilliant. "What good is the great design if we can't bill for it?" Accounting needs to know. "The trade show idea is awesome, but you're going to need 10 people to pull it off, right?" Set up a team e-mail to let them know how awesome it's going to be.  "You idea was crucial to winning that piece of business, but we're going to lose it if we're not on time." You've got to take care of your AE.

Set up a check list.

If you let a task go too long, it's gone. Is their a project list, and can a box be checked? Are those boxes chronological? Something this simple can be a real help. People who can fill up a blank sheet of paper with ingenious thoughts and designs, seldom see a start and stop to their work. They're on to the next thought. Give them an official box to check —literally. It will be their "I have made fire" moment.

Do it now.

Creative people may often be disorganized, but they typically are good at playing "hot-potato".  In your correspondence, don't allow latitude on executable ideas or tasks. Be specific (we understand deadlines - you just know that the creative will use every last second of it - so "cheat" a little and demand your deadline an hour to a day in advance) and give a clear direction of what and where something has to go. By doing so, you'll allow them to work within a framework that's comfortable for them and you may actually find some peace in your work place.

When all else fails...

Have them explain how their 2% inspiration is going to make a 100% success. Honestly. They most likely see the brilliance of their own thought. They may think that it's enough for something to succeed. You know that just isn't the case, but it hasn't been their job to truly understand that fact. They can and they must. Giving them ownership of the full process may get them to cow-tow a bit better to the hard work of the paper work and communication that should accompany every project running through your company.

...or maybe they'll simply hang out their own shingle, in which case, they're no longer your problem, and you'll have the satisfaction of knowing that they are paying their penance because they finally have to manage the whole process themselves.

Teaching an Old Dog a New Trick

Who hasn't seen the funny Old Spice spots?



This one, was recently selected as the best TV spot at the Film Grand Prix in Cannes. Why? I suspect it goes to the ability this spot has at holding your attention, the use of humor and the juxtaposition of one of the world's stodgiest brands with the new "Mustafa" pitchman. Thing is, Proctor & Gamble's gamble, actually started in 1990 when it acquired the brand and worked on revitalizing it's image. Long the mainstay of any mature man's medicine cabinet, the old ivory bottle of Old Spice aftershave seemed closer to a ship wreck than ship shape. It wasn't until 2003 that it overtook Gillette's Right Guard as the no. 1 men's personal care brand. What's been happening lately, is just the logical extension of a bold path and vision they had for their brand. Namely, "We want to own what men spread or spray on their bodies."

In a $10 billion industry, that's not a timid statement.

The Isaiah Musafa "Smell Like a Man, Man" commercial that went viral was the continued extension of applying solid branding principles to a brand. Wieden + Kennedy, the ad agency behind the effort, has been one of the world's great creative firms, ever since it first tackled the Nike brand in it's early days. So sharp is this recent round of spots, that many may have forgotten that just a few month's before, they launched the Terry Crews Old Spice Odor Blocker Body Wash campaign. It too, was a smash online sensation.


Now, for their third act, W+K's creative team pulled off the proverbial social media trifecta, by upping the ante on Twitter - utilizing the buzz around Mustafa by writing and filming video responses to popular Twitterers like Perez Hilton, Yahoo!, various regular Tweeters and even his own daughter, Haley. It's good clean zaniness, delivered Flip video style in a single 24-hour period on the 13th of this month. The "buzz factor" is over the top, as each "tweet" video link has received well over 300,000 hits a piece (many, in excess of 1,000,000 views). That's a lot of eyeballs on your man... er, your brand.



So what's the take-away for the rest of us? If you or I simply supplied shower video answers to the many followers we have on Twitter, would it go viral? Does one need to have a million dollar ad campaign already underway to attempt such a thing?

The answer is no, and thankfully, no.

Doing the shower scene now would be viewed negatively because it's a copycat; wouldn't be written nearly as cleverly or performed with as much panache, and, let's face it, takes balls (ahem) to deliver this kind of marketing campaign. But for any of us to create simple and fun real-time video replies to customer oriented tweets... I think it's safe to say that you'd generate some buzz for your business. OK, maybe not the 1,000,000 views kind - but what's the harm in trying? Everyone is looking for a positive surprise. When the manager of the store actually handles the complaint, negative feelings are usually dismissed. When we're given a little something extra for our efforts, we smile and place a mental note to think more kindly of even the cheapest of trinkets. Doing the unexpected is the very essence of changing stodginess into contemporary value. 

Find that in your brand, and you win.

The key to updating the branding image of an old brand is in affording your marketing team the kind of freedom to risk failure.  That's the real test for the rest of us: Do you really want to do what it takes to create publicity?

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Lessons Learned from Jacko PR

It is not my intent to speak ill of the dead, nor to be completely crass, but with the sudden demise of the King of Pop, there are lessons to be learned by anyone (or any company) that must face the scrutiny of the public eye -- especially in crisis.

For the past five days, Michael Jackson's death has trumped ANY other story... worldwide. It is truly a testimony to his "icon" status - apparently, "Elvis has left the building." However, as everyone knows, Michael Jackson's eccentricities, his fiscal debts, as well as his accusations of molestation had left his image tarnished and a brand that was on the verge of a star's worst fear: irrelevancy.

So how do you ensure a legacy worth remembering?

You get ahead of the curve and own your content such that you can dictate the message to be digested by your public. Far too often, we see politicians and businesses who have come under bad press precisely because they used a "head in the sand" approach... just hoping for it all to "go away."

Nothing could be worse.

Jackson's family (and publicists) knew the "story" was going to be big - the question was not "Who was going to tell it" (because everyone was), but "How would they tell it?"

By delivering steady portions to a ravenous media, they effectively have controlled which items would be newsworthy in a given news cycle. When everything you do is the fodder for publicity, the anti-crowd can not mount a persuasive campaign because the news of the day is already set. It is my contention that those closest to Jackson - and to his estate - decided very swiftly to set the agenda of how he was to be perceived: whether he was a victim; did someone need to answer for his death; and how others OWED their careers to a "legendary pioneer." A tainted Michael Jackson is a devalued brand. And a devalued brand is money and opportunity... lost.

To my knowledge, there has not been a single derogatory story regarding Jackson. This morning, home movies of Jackson frolicking with his unmasked children appeared, exclusively on the Today Show. "Michael Jackson as good father" should have been the headline. An intriguing rebuttle to the creepiness-factor of veiling your children by offering up the loving dad who did so to protect their identities and to give them a chance at "normalcy". (Curiously, showing their faces now ensures that they will have no such luck from this point forward.) No matter, that's NOT the story. Everyone will still think he was an eccentric, but moving public perception from pedophile to a loving father attempts to soften cynical hearts the rest of us held about his integrity -- giving his memory a new chance at redemption.

What his true legacy will become, only time will tell - but one thing is for certain, those that were in line to put their teeth into his estate to extract their debt owed may be thinking twice as they stand in a line at the profit potential of a "New Graceland" ...for decades and dollars to come.