Keep it simple.

If I were to choose one professional takeaway from the past week, it would be this. At R/GA, creative directors reminded all of our pitching teams to do the minimum required to share ideas, especially in a presentation format. If you include too many unnecessary details, you lose your audience.

The same goes for a strategist briefing creatives. Later in the week at 360i and 72andSunny, I had two different conversations about the importance of a straightforward, strong direction. Research is complicated, but the ability to distill it into a single strategic direction is the real challenge.

As a student, this is difficult. Academia rewards pages of subheads, diagrams and theoretical explanations. You have to tell your reader that you know what you’re doing. Not the case in advertising. Here, you’re judged by your ability to show your direction and move the team forward – simply. 

Rachel Benner. 05.13.2017