Thinking and Selling

Andrew left this gem of a statement within the lead-in to Rob Campbell's feedback for the APSotW. Worth pulling out and letting it breathe a bit.

"I sometimes think that the so called, 'cooler' more creative agencies do themselves a disservice by not exposing the utter mania for rigorous, watertight thinking. All the great work you see isn't just a result of a mania for doing great creative work, it's about taking care of the detail. Take the famous Old Spice work. It's probably as creative and provocative as an integrated campaign gets, but don't forget it was done for P&G - one the most notoriously formulaic, risk averse clients there is. You don't get any work through clients like that, especially work like this without proven rigorous thinking."

I've always felt like this is the great untold story of some of the best work out there. Not just the final product, but all the other stuff that allows it to happen. Anyway - never really saw that mentioned with all the praise for the Old Spice campaign. Thought it was interesting.