Creative teams are known for coming up with crazy ideas. But most of them are not crazy at all, argues Gabriel Schmitt, Global Chief Creative Officer at Grey.
Speaking at this year’s Dubai Lynx, he gave an amusing talk on how the most ‘out there’ ideas often have strong business reasons behind them.
Schmitt spoke to Campaign Middle East editor Justin Harper on the sidelines of the festival about the power of creativity in solving real business problems. But he cautioned that some creative leaders don’t always think this way.
“A lot of times agencies come up with crazy, amazing creative stuff that is not responding to business problems that the clients have. Then you get into a crazy conversation of ‘I need to solve problem X and you bring me solution Y’”.
“It doesn’t matter how beautifully crafted solution Y is. You are not solving the problem I have.”
The answer?
Schmitt says agencies should spend more time talking to clients about their business problems, and not always trusting briefs, as these are often created at a whim or in isolation to the rest of the business.
“The more time you spend with clients talking about their problems, the more they are going to trust you. And find out what’s behind the problem, as an agency and as a creative person, to get solution-first ideas.”
The Brazilian creative genius has picked up many honours in his illustrious career, including a triple Grand Prix (including the Titanium) for Burger King’s ‘Whopper Detour’ in 2019.
He followed that up with a double Grand Prix for Michelob Ultra’s ‘Contract for Change’ in 2021-2022. His collection of awards includes more than 20 Gold Lions, 20 Silver and 18 Bronze.
Out-of-the-box
During Schmitt’s time working with Burger King, it built a reputation for out-of-the-box marketing, often taking cheeky shots at its arch-rival McDonald’s.
The Whopper Detour stunt relied on geofencing to divert customers away from McDonald’s branches and promote the new features of Burger King’s redesigned app.
People who went near McDonald’s locations were delivered mobile notifications offering a Whopper for one cent.
After they placed an order, the app directed them away from McDonald’s and toward the nearest Burger King outlet to pick up their food.
The guerrilla campaign notched up more than 1.5 million downloads for Burger King.
“In the last five years, I see some very good ideas that are ‘out there’, and if you dissect them you know they are solving problems. The campaigns that I am most proud of in all my work are like that.
“On face value they are all crazy ideas, but they are not. They are business-orientated ideas that have very clear business results attached to them.”
Schmitt explains that the Whopper Detour concept was actually a “coupon idea at its heart”. Highly-acclaimed for its daringness, it was its results were very business-focused.
“I strongly believe the creative people need to become more business-oriented and the business people need to be more creative, and both meet in the middle. The best creative agencies in the world are doing that.”
