When it comes to creative, everyone has an opinion.  Ultimately it’s the client’s opinion that matters.  But what can you do when the client is flat out, no questions asked, no doubt about it, wrong?

One option is: Grin and bear it…shrug it off so you can happily say AFTER the campaign is over “I told you so.”  (Doing so pretty much guarantees a one and done situation.)

Another option?  Step back from the situation, take a deep breath and as objectively as possible, determine why this present course of action, if it were to continue is destined for failure.  Now, BEFORE going to the client with your concerns and issues, try to view it through his/her eyes.  Why is the client convinced this is the best course of action?  The answer to this question is the key to being able to persuade the client that his/her thinking ought to change.

So now we have to ask:  Why is the client married to their current thinking?  Is it just because that’s how it’s always been done?  But isn’t the whole point of advertising to try new things to boost sales and gain market share?  If the answer is yes, then it may just be time to blow up the current marketing plan and give new ideas a try.

For a variety of reasons, that’s easier said than done.  A client being too close to the brand – not being able to see the forest for the trees, so to speak – is one reason.  The time it takes to change an entire company’s marketing plan is another.  Researching and conducting focus groups to learn how new approaches will be received is yet another.  All valid reasons, to one degree or another.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not necessarily advocating blowing up an entire marketing plan for no reason.  What I am suggesting is keeping the core message but have it delivered in a fresh, modern way.  And that is the ultimate challenge.  To break away from old school thinking.  The old school way of doing things.  To take that great leap into the unknown of change.

Ian Cohen is Production Director at The Radio Agency. Please follow The Radio Agency’s Blog “Sounding Board” by subscribing to the RSS link above. Visit our website TheRadioAgency.com