Nod and bill.
David Ogilvy put it like so: “Don’t hire a dog and then bark for yourself.”
Leo Burnett said it thusly: “Any fool can write a bad advertisement, but it takes a real genius to keep his hands off a good one.”
Both were nailing a singular failing that’s plagued adland since we first slithered from the primordial economy on to dry land: how we arbitrate our creative creations.
Considering D.O.’s been dead for 25 years, and Leo shuffled off the mortal coil in ‘71, it’s not like we haven’t had time.
If anything, as experience keeps re-re-reconfirming, the pustulent boil seems to have become more inflamed.
Hell, we don’t even seem to be able train folks — agency or client-side — how to give creative feedback.
The problem isn’t any lack of guidance. Go online and you’ll find dozens and dozens of reasonably intelligent role-specific “how-to’s” showing you solid ways to approach everything from “yes, but” to “no, and.”
Even Leo’s brilliant act of forbearance.
Instead, it seems nobody has the requisite time, interest, or even curiosity to master this skill. The depressing results glare at us from every screen, page, and in-your-grill promotion-available surface.
It’s endemic ineptitude and the root cause of the root cause comes down to an inability to get people to decide, for themselves, they need to learn how to motivate people in the face of feedback.
Instead, we have client managers issuing “it’s our damned ad” directives. Account types superglued to “it’s what the client wants.” Strategists archly whiteboarding, “it’s my strategy.” And way, way too many CDs promoted away from creative strength to managerial weakness.
So let me reframe this in terms that should appeal to almost everyone because, well, self-interest.
Bluntly put, the surest way to ensure your creative winds up part of the dull and blundering herd is to demotivate your creative team. And the surefire way make that happen is to stay blissfully ignorant of the essential skills needed to get the work to the right place.
As it happens, there's an acid test that that lets you know when your creative team has shut down. It comes from the freelance world and, fair warning, it does require close listening.
After a couple of “Bark This Way” creative review sessions, you’ll hear one hired dog mutter to the other: “nod and bill, baby, nod and bill.”
If you want the translation, just ask.