Shell

Did a couple ads, did some stuff for press, the client liked it. We were ready to make it. And a new broom came in, changed everything, questioned everything, questioned the brief, new brief, goes out to another team, so now we've got two ... [439]
Yeah. Sponsored by Shell and [Decate 01:22:24] that demonstrates the efficacy of the product. And that's the end of it. Make it cool. The target market's like 15 year olds. They're kind of relatively poorly educated. They drive 50 CC mopeds. They want to aspire to something cool. Nothing cooler than a [Decate 01:22:43]. And that's the end of it. Did a couple ads, did some stuff for press, the client liked it. We were ready to make it. And a new broom came in, changed everything, questioned everything, questioned the brief, new brief, goes out to another team, so now we've got two ... [441],[440]
Two creative routes, two different briefs. The only difference, actually, between the two briefs is one has got Casey Stoner in it and one doesn't. So two different creative routes now. One is much more technologically weighted. [442]
Yeah, that's it. Those are going into research in January and may the best man win. Very frustrating, 'cause it was a one horse race and now it's a two horse race based entirely on one person. One person. One new broom. [443]
Both ideas will be developed to the same level. So there will be qualitative research done on both. There will be scripts, press, and a qual will be obviously just key frames and narrative scripts. [444]
We had a one to one relationship with a guy who's now leaving. There were really two creators. Sorry, two account people on it who I deal with daily. There was really one client who's now leaving and now there's only one client we have to please, his boss. Outside influences, next to nothing, really, I would say. Relationship with Ben has been ... He's a biker. He knows his stuff. [445]
Extremely useful. He's been ... He came up with two of the scripts. He's been really important and understanding what bikers like and what makes a sexy ... Well, not what makes a sexy bike ad, but how to make the most of Casey Stoner and [Decate 01:24:58]. And he watches all the races and he knows. He can see it in his head. [446]
Well, it looked like it's gonna go through and it looked like it was gonna be a relatively simple job without too much politic, and of course that's exactly what it's not. [447]
Consumer is much less sophisticated, less educated, less ad literate. [462],[463]
Much less sophisticated than say the UK. I'm just comparing it to us. Consumer is much less sophisticated, less educated, less ad literate. What else? That's about it, really, I'd say. Probably more opportunity for much shorter time lengths on TV. So they rely more on outdoor and press and posters to get their message across on the streets, because even people, you might even have a literacy problem out there. These guys are 50, 60 years old and they just react to an image. So shorter time lengths on TV make a big difference to the idea, and that helps us actually, 'cause one of the ideas was all about speed and getting it in 15 seconds. So it was quite nice that we use that as a springboard for the creativity. So the restriction became ... [448]
They're a conservative client. The subject matters means that they are slightly more risk tolerant than they would normally be. But still, pretty damn conservative. I'd say just below middle. [449]
Budget, tight. Time constraints were tight. Still pretty tight. That's about it I'd say. [450],[451]
For Shell, you'd think we'd have a lot more money than we do. [452]
I'm going to. I haven't been, but I will. Yeah. [453]
No relationship with current client. Previous relationship, only one conversation. Very good. [454]
He was very straightforward, perfectly suited to the subject matter. Very [Ducate 01:30:07] bike minded, macho, sexist, Italian man who knew what he wanted and created a very no barriers for us. [456]
He was very straightforward, perfectly suited to the subject matter. Very [Ducate 01:30:07] bike minded, macho, sexist, Italian man who knew what he wanted and created a very no barriers for us. [455]
Within the team including account people? Account people, jury's a little still out on that, to be honest with you. Account team rolled over a bit quickly in my opinion when the new broom came in. Should have fought harder for the scripts that were on the table. Could have made some adjustments to those without necessarily having to brief out a second route. So there was a knee jerk situation there trying to please a new boss. Happens a lot. It's all about relationship maintenance and creative agendas often clash with that because it's all about the idea. It's not about what Bob thinks of Margaret. I don't care. It's like ... And this is where we get into the problem of what I do and what the agency wants, which is it wants to make money. [458],[457]
But kind of needs to be. Exactly. A guy who's doing something in a big firm, Frank Gerry's gaff, he doesn't want somebody who's gonna be a cog. He's gonna want to hire somebody who's gonna just challenge all his precepts and just say "I don't think it should be like that. Why don't we do it like this? Why don't we make the roof upside down." And he goes "Yeah, great. Thank you. Yeah. Maybe we should. Yeah, that's why I hired you." 'Cause if there are two men in a room and they both agree, one of them's useless. [460],[459]
Yeah. I mean ... I'd say pretty much it's a long term relationship with Shell. JWT have had them on the books for many, many years. 30, 40 years. And want to keep them. It's very, very ... What's the word? ... consolatory and really trying to make, from our point of view, as many overtures to them as possible so that they don't think that we're disrespecting them. [461]
Reference Tags
[439] Dismissive,[441] Insufficient Feedback,[440] Internal changes/challenges,[442] Dismissive,[443] Compromising conflict about ideas,[444] Compromising conflict about ideas,[445] Internal changes/challenges,[446] Authority bias,[447] Hindsight bias,[462] Anecdotal fallacy,[463] Pessimism bias,[448] Cultural differences,[449] Risk compensation,[450] Lack of resources,[451] Planning fallacy,[452] Appropriate resources,[453] Communication issues,[454] Trust,[456] Promote autonomy & sense of ownership,[455] Trust,[458] Empathetic disposition,[457] Lack of organizational encouragement,[460] Communicating ideas across domains,[459] Organizational encouragement,[461] Trust