I don’t know about you but the reason I come in to work every day in my Healthcare agency of choice is mostly to help small Mexican villages improve their language skills. It can be monotonous but it also can be more rewarding than it looks.
When I see their little faces light up with new words for their private parts it makes everything seem worth it.
Other days I can be found designing and manufacturing electronic limbs, which is all new to me but once you get the hang of the mechanics it all makes sense and there is quite a bit of creativity attached – if a little noisy.
But the other day, as we were trying to figure out how to improve the diet of a small jungle community by making aquatic creatures from wrought iron, an account guy came in the department with a tentative face, followed by our apologetic looking traffic manager.
“Olly” he said, “I have an urgent brief and the studio are all busy making UV reactive dolls”
“Okay” I said “let me take a look at it”
He was so grateful “You really saved my life” he spluttered “The client wants to empower women..and he needs an idea by monday…massive budget, posters TV, online, social”
“That’s the third empowering women brief we’ve had this month…you’d think they were all fully empowered by now” I said
A revolutionary veterinary product design to help vets empathise with pet owners
“I know” he said with an expression that said but what you gonna do?
“But apparently” he continued “there are parts of Gloucestershire where they’re still feeling a tiny bit timid.”
Then he actually said “But what you gonna do?” which seemed appropriate.
“Okay, I’ll take a look at it…but you owe me one” I said. You see, when you are a CD you have to take the dull briefs too and these bread and butter ‘women empowerment’ type clients make the real creative opportunities possible.
So there I was trying to sift through my bottom drawer of concepts (This girl can, This girl wants to, What women want etc)and my office door slid open. It was our MD Phil with a huge grin on his face. To be fair, he often has a grin on his face but this time I sensed something different in the air.
“Olly” he said, hardly containing his excitement.
“This is the big one”
“What is?” I half-whispered…(to increase the general sense of excitement)
“Phamaland Inc wants us to launch a fourth to market generic drug”
I clench my fist and punched the air.
“iPad detail aids, leave-pieces, objection handlers…the bloody lot”
What was the likelihood of a brief like that coming in to a healthcare agency in 2015?
I immediately marched in to the creative department. (A full three steps)
“Guys and girls stop all that 3D printing malarkey…this is serious”
The 3D printer drew to a halt.
“Once in a lifetime we get a brief like this”
Phil cut in excitedly “Pharmaland Inc want us to do a new detail aid for a fourth to market drug”
There was a collective gasp and a palpable licking of lips at the prospect.
“And an updated leave piece” I added “and if we play our cards right, the internal launch meeting materials”.
The smiles swept across their faces, everyone knew the implications.
Holding the brief aloft I said…”This is a our Lions Health Cannes Grand Prix next year guys….they literally won’t have seen anything like it!”
“Good luck” said Phil over his shoulder as he returned to writing a brief for some boring old wearable technology product “sometimes these kinds of briefs aren’t as easy as they look”.
Noooo shit.
