That one week last fall where every client hated the same campaign

I still remember the Tuesday in October when three different clients called me within four hours to say our new social media ads felt 'too salesy.' We had spent 2 weeks on that campaign for a local car dealership in Austin, and I thought the direct approach would work. But every single one of them wanted softer messaging with more lifestyle shots instead. Has anyone else had a whole campaign tank because you misread the room like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

grace_wright12d ago

Wait, did you work on the exact same kind of thing I had happen? I mean, I had a whole batch of ads for a local bakery that we pushed out last spring, and everybody just hated the bright, punchy colors we used. Idk, we thought it would make the cupcakes pop, but clients kept saying it looked 'too loud' and 'kind of cheap' instead. It was like we were speaking a totally different language than every single person looking at the ads. Maybe it's just me, but I think when you spend that long on a project, you get kind of blind to how it actually comes off to real people. So yeah, I totally feel your pain with that dealership campaign.

ward.jamie12d ago

Hear that a lot. So when you finally pushed back or tried to explain the thinking behind the bright colors, did the clients ever actually tell you what they wanted instead? Or was it just a blanket "this sucks" with no real direction? Honestly, I think that's the worst part of creative work. You spend all that time cooking up something you think is fire, and then people just shut it down without giving you any kind of clue what would actually work for them. Makes you wonder if they even know what they want or if they're just waiting to hate whatever you show them.