You can’t say that.
How it gets delivered is part of the design, not an afterthought.
Acquisition creative for a regulated insurance brand. Nothing goes out until legal and compliance sign off, and most pieces get reviewed more than once. Most people assume that kills the creative process. It doesn’t.
Everyone’s got a note
Some of those notes are real. Some are a preference dressed up as a concern. Some are legitimate compliance flags. And a lot come from people who feel they have to say something, because a review with no changes can feel like you weren’t needed. “Looks great, no notes” is apparently a hard thing to send.
Picture yourself at the mailbox
You’re holding a stack of mail, sorting it on the walk back from the box. Most of it is headed for recycling before you reach the kitchen counter. The people closest to a product want to put everything on it — every feature, every proof point, eight million bullets on one piece of mail. They know too much, and the person at the mailbox is giving it four seconds.
And then there’s the printer
A credit union prints its materials on whatever’s on hand — usually a cheap HP on somebody’s desk, the kind you expense from Staples. When the job request asks for a big full-colour photo, I’m thinking about the toner, and the oversaturated mess that gets spat out of said printer. Once it leaves my desk I can’t control any of it, so I build for that.
Ultimately, you follow the rules. You just don’t let them take over.
Three doors down there’s a case study about cigarette advertising under federal law, from 2008. The rules were strict then. They’re stricter now, and I’m better at this than I was.
The long version — what you can’t say, and the receipts
01What you can't say
I run creative execution for a number of consumer insurance products and programs. Nothing goes out until legal and compliance sign off, and most pieces get reviewed more than once.
Most people assume that kills the creative process. It doesn’t.
02The receipts
Creative I directed, and what it returned.
03Everyone's got a note
Some of those notes are real. Some are a preference dressed up as a concern. Some are legit compliance flags. And a lot of them come from people who feel like they have to say something, because a review with no changes can feel like you weren't needed.
"Looks great, no notes" is apparently a hard thing to send.
04Picture yourself at the mailbox
You’re holding a stack of mail, sorting it on the walk back from the box. Most of it is already headed for recycling before you reach the kitchen counter.
The people closest to a product typically want to put everything on it. Every feature, every proof point, eight million bullets on one piece of mail. They know too much, and the person at the mailbox is giving it four seconds.
It’s the same with how a piece gets used
A credit union prints its materials on whatever’s on hand, usually a cheap HP on somebody’s desk, the kind you expense from Staples.
When the job request asks for a big, full-color photo, I’m thinking about the toner and the unusable, oversaturated mess that gets spit out of said printer.
How it gets delivered is part of the design, not an afterthought. Once it leaves my desk, I can’t control any of it, so I build for that.