Unilever

We were doing all this web stuff, this is also for Sunsilk but for the American client. And we were doing all this stuff where they just threw us in to it, production stuff, that we really weren't ready for. And we would ask for help but everyone was so busy. And so, we just kind of had to wing it. [1512],[1513],[1573]
And it was a great learning especially. We learned, that it was a very learn by fire. Looking back on it, it was really stressful. Because we really just didn't have anybody to ... you didn't know if you were making the right decisions. We didn't really have anybody to check in with. [1574],[1575],[1514],[1515]
I mean, we had a creative director, but they were always doing something else. And it was a big project. It was the website for this company. And there was all kinds of things that had to be filmed. I know we pissed off the director and a couple of other people, just from not knowing. Just from not knowing what's going on. [1517],[1518],[1516]
So, I think that was ... I mean, just looking back on that, that was probably one of the worst experiences, I would say. Because it didn't turn out well either. Obviously. [1519]
And they bought these spots, but then they, internally, I think the client was just ... like I said, they were still trying to figure out what ... They had six different variants and they were still trying to figure out what each variant meant. Like, volume versus straight-haired girls, curly haired girls versus whatever. And what each one of those looked like and what ... [1521],[1520]
And so, we did one spot where we had sold them an idea that we liked, but I think when we sold it to them, they had some changing of the guard or something like that, or the idea just got lost in there somewhere. And they just second guessed it to pieces. And by the time we got on set, there were just so many ... all of that came out. [1522],[1523]
I'm pretty sure they spent a lot of money trying to fix that. Because we ended up on set just, not fighting with them, but being like, "What do you want us to do?" [1524]
We'd go back and forth to the dressing room, "I won't work with her again." [inaudible 00:36:15]. But going back and forth, back and forth, and having them not make a decision, or one person will make a decision and the other person won't. That was the same producer that we worked with later, that we didn't like anyway, but we didn't know it then. And he was doing all this crazy shit behind our backs. [1525],[1526],[1527]
He'd tell the production to do one thing, when we hadn't actually approved that. He'd tell the production, "Oh, I don't like dress on her. Do this one." But wouldn't actually check with us about it. And we'd see and we'd be like, "That's not the right."- [1528],[1529]
Or not even the right dress, just like, that's not even the look we're going for. Why is that on her? And it just makes us- [1531],[1530]
Right, exactly. And we felt like he was just bulldozing us constantly. And he's a really hard guy to stand up to, and be like, "We're the creative team. You should be listening." [1532],[1535],[1534],[1533]
It was the same client, but it was like they were all kind of involved all at the same time but there were certain people we would talk to for website and certain people we would talk to for more mainstream stuff. They had people coming and going all the time. [1536]
On the TV, I would say mild. They wanted to be a lot more risky than I think they were willing to go. They would say that they wanted something and then they really didn't. I don't think they felt that they could go certain places. [1539],[1538],[1537]
No, not really. I mean, there was time, there was deadlines and budgets and stuff. But the budgets, they were ... we never ran up against ... With them, we've never really run up against hard money lines. Because they're always really, if we say we need this, they're always pretty ... as long as you can justify it to them why you need it, then they're usually okay with it. They usually find money from somewhere. [1540]
Time wise, the website was really fast. I will say that. The website was like, "We need a website." And then it had to be up a month later. [1541],[1542]
That one was really fast. And, which probably, I think, contributed to some of the problems that happened with it. Because it probably needed to be more thought out than it was. [1543]
The website was dictated to us a little bit. We had to use these certain characters. And we had to do something with them, which was up to us, but we had to ... We just wanted to make somebody laugh basically, because it was so ... It was these three guys and they were supposed to talk all about hair. So, we didn't really have a whole lot of leeway to do a lot with it. [1544]
I mean, I think we were just both really frustrated the whole time. [1545],[1546]
On, not so much the website. I think both of us were just kind of like, "What are we supposed to do?" We originally didn't have a whole lot time to feel anything because it was moving so fast, and we didn't know what we were doing. So we were just trying to keep everything together. [1547],[1548]
Yeah. It wasn't so much frustrating as it was just crazy. And we were just trying to check things off. [1550],[1549]
The other one was just really frustrating because we felt like we weren't doing our jobs right. But we were also ... We also both realized that ... because I saw her doing her job and I'm doing ... and she saw me doing my job, but a lot of times when we got in those situations, we try to stand together. And we were working with another group, too as well. And so, we'd all try to come to a conclusion together and then step forward and say something. [1552],[1553],[1554],[1551]
I don't know, it's been a ... We use it as a supportive relationship more than anything. But we've never really ... it's always been the same relationship. [1555]
Restrictions on a project and also that ... there were so many decision makers and none of them were talking to each other. Since we're on the bottom rung of all of that, a lot of that fell onto us. [1556],[1558],[1557]
And when things start going wrong, that's what people do. They start passing it down. There was nothing we could really do about it. So we felt out of control and also just helpless, but really frustrated for those reasons. [1559],[1560]
Yeah. [inaudible 00:46:46]. That's how they work. They start with one thing and then by the time you end up shooting it, it looks something like you haven't seen. But they've changed ... Since we were working on that, they've changed creative directors and a number of other things, and clients and stuff. [1561],[1562]
It was strained. The website wasn't bad, at all. It was actually the client, that relationship during that time was actually kind of cool. Because there was the people that were in charge of the website area of it, were really open minded. And they kind of got it. [1563]
But after they left, it was people that didn't ... weren't as familiar with that. So then, it was harder. [1564]
On the TV it was really a very ... it was just a very strained relationship. We felt like ... because they were, I think they felt helpless, too. I think everybody, it was a situation where nobody knew what was really going on. We were really trying to be understanding of that, but at the same time, I'm like, I don't think anybody was really getting what they needed from the other one. [1565],[1566]
Good. They were pretty supportive. I mean, there was times when they- [1567]
The TV. And account people weren't really that involved in the website that much. But on the TV, there was times when they probably should have stepped in a little bit, but they were okay. They knew of all, what was going on, they kind of tried to ... but they were caught in the middle as well. [1570],[1568],[1569]
So, I think they did the best they could, under the circumstances. [1571]
And on the website, too. On the website, we were in charge of a bunch of it, but there was other teams that were doing sections of the website, which I think is why it ended up being a little bit disjointed. Because it was a bunch of different people working on it. But it was really hard to get everybody in the same room to really have a focus. [1572]
Reference Tags
[1512] Inexperience,[1513] Lack of organizational encouragement,[1573] Lack of resources,[1574] Indecisive leadership,[1575] Lack of resources,[1514] Optimism,[1515] Resilience,[1517] Inexperience,[1518] Lack of organizational encouragement,[1516] Resilience,[1519] Peak-end rule,[1521] Communication issues,[1520] Vague goals,[1522] Insufficient Feedback,[1523] Internal changes/challenges,[1524] Yielding conflict about ideas,[1525] Indecisive leadership,[1526] Lack of trust,[1527] Unresolved relationship conflict,[1528] Lack of trust,[1529] Unresolved relationship conflict,[1531] Lack of trust,[1530] Unresolved relationship conflict,[1532] Dismissive,[1535] Lack of trust,[1534] Unresolved relationship conflict,[1533] Woman blaming man,[1536] Vague roles,[1539] Communication issues,[1538] Lack of real innovation mandate,[1537] Risk compensation,[1540] Appropriate resources,[1541] Planning fallacy,[1542] Unbalanced workload pressure,[1543] Planning fallacy,[1544] Compromising conflict about ideas,[1545] Lack of organizational encouragement,[1546] Resilience,[1547] Lack of organizational encouragement,[1548] Resilience,[1550] Resilience,[1549] Unbalanced workload pressure,[1552] Inexperience,[1553] Resilience,[1554] Trust,[1551] Win-win conflict about ideas,[1555] Trust,[1556] Communication issues,[1558] Indecisive leadership,[1557] Lack of trust,[1559] Indecisive leadership,[1560] Lack of trust,[1561] Indecisive leadership,[1562] Scope creep,[1563] Communicating ideas across domains,[1564] Communication issues,[1565] Resilience,[1566] Trust,[1567] Organizational encouragement,[1570] Empathetic disposition,[1568] Lack of organizational encouragement,[1569] Organizational encouragement,[1571] Empathetic disposition,[1572] Indecisive leadership