Chekov’s Gun or Can you make my logo bigger?
“Chekov’s Gun(CG): a dramatic principle that states that every element in a story must be necessary, and irrelevant elements should be removed. Elements should not appear to make “false promises” by never coming into play.”
CG has always been a principle I’ve been incredibly compelled by. Simply put — if you introduce a gun into a story line the expectation of the audience is that it will be used. I apply this idea to a lot of my work as a reminder to be more intentional with my choices and specific with the decisions I make or propose to my clients.
For this post I wear my marketer’s hat — reminiscing about the final years of a role I held for the most part of 11 years.
I have a problem with the advertising industry. It is broken, clients have kept it broken, I helped my clients keep it broken and now the Agency I helped build needs repairing because of it.
Don’t get me wrong though — I’m not attempting to write an angry piece to disparage a sector to save face for losing a few clients. Nor is this a grand sales pitch to help the rebuild. This is more of a confession of complicity in the format of messing around.
Cool Kids with Awesome Jobs — A Short Screenplay
Good Company for Portfolio Limited (GCPL): I have a challenge that I need your help with. I’ve been told you are the guys to go to and that you have all the answers.
Shiny New Agency Inc (SNAI): We’re flattered and that’s why we’re here! You see, we’re rooted in insight and believe it is essential to lead with empathy. Y’know — get in the minds of your consumers and ensure that we’re giving them something that really matters to their lives. A product that has been crafted with the consumer experience at its core. And we’ll communicate your product in the exact same way!
We’ll really get into the consumer’s psyche, tap into their various personas, build out a communication strategy that really keeps their journey in mind. It all starts at the core insight you see. We’re all really talented by the way. Look how young and hip my team is and how cool our space looks.
camera pans to left. Pull-focus on pool table and cotton candy machine.
GCPL: Uhh..well that’s really great. I don’t really understand what that all means but it sounds like you know what you’re talking about.
SNAI: We don’t make any assumptions — but there is some truth to that. We do know a lot and have done a lot of things!
GCPL: That’s nice. So while you were speaking I did pick up a few things that I might need to give you a heads up on.
SNAI: Shoot!
GCPL: You said something about empathy? Crafting the product?
SNAI: That we did!
GCPL: Well, you see. We don’t build the product. We just import it and sell it. And the product is already here. We have 7,000,000 SKUs of it. So really, the product can’t be changed.
SNAI: That’s not a problem! We’ll work around that and ensure that we’ll communicate your product to the right people who are most likely to need it!
GCPL: Great! Our brand is really a mainstream brand. With a premium portfolio. And a youth focus. Trying to cater to enterprises. And SME’s. And housewives. With a rural identity in urban areas.
SNAI: Hahahaha! That’s perfect. Our client portfolio has a client with a similar target and we did wonders for them. Now that we know your target audience we just need to know a little bit more about your specific goals and your brand narrative. Do you mind filling in this brief?
hands over brief document
GCPL: Sure. My intern’s intern’s assistant will fill it in. He will be your main point of contact.
SNAI: Excellent.
GCPL: While he’s working on the brief Let me tell you exactly what we need done. I require a through-the-line ATL campaign with a digital skew that is activation-oriented. I require two key visuals — one where I have a 22-year old consumer using my product in a familiar nowhere and another using this stock image. Radio is huge I hear so I need a jingle by the musical sensation Graphite Titaniumz. I also need 10 activations at points of consumption to encourage trial of my product through paid sampling. We will give consumers a t-shirt though. Lastly, I need a good morning and good evening post on Facebook everyday, a GIF on Instagram and make sure you boost them!
SNAI: Ok…we’ll get that made for you.
GCPL: Make sure what you make looks almost like Better Company for Portfolio Limited’s campaign.
SNAI: Sure. We’ll just keep a close eye on the results to ensure we’re really meeting your objectives.
GCPL: That’s good. Our policy is performance driven. Given that your business is insight-driven and we’re coming to you for your expertise it is key we hold you to some KPI’s.
SNAI: …..Absolutely. We do have to make sure our costs are covered though at our standard rate. Here is a cost estimate for you to review.
GCPL: My budget is half that. And I can only pay you after 6 months, but rest assured you will now be my go to agency and any future work will come to you.
a few months later
GCPL: We have a new campaign coming up and we need some insight on how to approach it.
SNAI: That’s great and that is what we do best!
GCPL: So, we’ll need you to send in your insights and campaign strategy and creative direction and a sample of a TVC. You’ll also need you to send this in the next 4 hours. There are 5 other agencies we’ve asked as well so the process is competitive.
SNAI: 4 hours is a stretch and I thought you mentioned the next project would come to us?
GCPL: 4 hours is all we have as we need the other 42 days of pre-planning to evaluate the reverts. Unfortunately, we had to share this brief with other agencies because our global Requisite Free Product or RFP policies require it.
3 hours and 59 minutes later a free product is shared by Shiny New Agency Inc to Good for Portfolio Company Limited.
As you can see from this tangent, I’m not bitter! :) As agencies we’re as much to blame (if not more) for the crushing soul-death of our industry as everyone else. We’re as post-truth as mainstream media and so caught up in the thrill of winning pitches that authenticity is nothing but an illusion and actually doing what will be important, impactful and sustainable is a by-product of the performance rather than the real deal.
As our Agency scaled, we became the co-opted rebels — we forgot about doing the work courageously in spite of what was asked of us and started becoming obsessed with having things asked of us. We became blind to the meaning behind our words and templated creativity. We stopped elevating expertise over profit. We forgot that the best agencies are really just loose communities of excited people, instead we built in process, systems and structure that was counterproductive to creativity.
Thankfully, the agency is now reforming and are already better for it. In many ways I think my veteran role in the team held us back and kept us from acknowledging our flaws.
So what does this have to do with Chekov’s Gun? Well, we introduced insight, strategy, storytelling and curiosity into the storyline but never effectively used them. Our clients introduced rigid procurement policies, ridiculous expectations, unequipped resources and ignorance into the storyline and we never noticed.
Never underestimate Chekov’s Gun.
