What the Washington Generals taught me about working on boring projects

April 7, 2009

It’s been your dream. Every since you were a little kid, you’ve worked your way toward becoming a basketball star. You’ve developed your skills. You’ve worked on your jumper, your strength, your moves. You went through college on scholarship, not the star but a solid piece of the puzzle.

You weren’t drafted. You graduated. And not wanting to lose the dream, you looked for an outlet. Europe? The minor leagues?

And then you settled for what could be the most humbling job in basketball. You’re a guard for the Washington Generals.

Your job is to make the Harlem Globetrotters look good. You have the task of tanking, of losing night after night, with no respite from the constant barrage of ill will. Your job is to lose. And, as long as you’re a member of the Generals, you’ll never win.

It’s a concession you make in order to keep your dream alive. You lose so you can play.

Watch as I switch gears.

In all aspects of marketing – especially between an agency and a client – there’s a fine balance between art and function.

As marketing experts, we work for our clients. We hope to enjoy a loose relationship – one that produces the best results from both a creative and functional side. It’s a relationship, and without buy-in on both sides it won’t work.

With this in mind, we have to realize that – as marketers, and especially for those of us on the creative side – we aren’t in the position to be the Harlem Globetrotters every time.

Depending on budgets, or time frame, or the needs of the project, there are times when we don’t get to experience an environment of free art, where the functionality of a project is secondary to its beauty. Where our duty to the client and their requests weighs a little higher than our individualistic need to impress.

It’s not a popular view – especially from the creative community – but there are times when our talents are best used being precise and pointed. When our flourishes and the newest trends and a desire to be unique gets in the way of the basics of the project. An HR ad. A storefront sign. An application form.

In other words, we all got into this business to be creative and artistic and ground breaking, but sometimes we just need to realize the basics and use our talents to create the best, hard-working products we can.

Sometimes, we need to realize that not every job can win an award. But every job can be done right, to the best of our ability.

I need to remind myself of this constantly. That I love writing, but sometimes I can’t write what I want. Sometimes I have to roll up my sleeves and accept the job as it’s presented, hoping to fill the cracks with some wordsmithing but otherwise working straightforward, true to the style; creating a perfectly crafted wooden bowl instead of the crystal chalice I had hoped.

It’s just part of the business. We create. We solve. We succeed. And we leave it to the next project to try to be the Globetrotters.

By Corey

Filed Under Marketing, Criticism, The Process

Comments

One Response to “What the Washington Generals taught me about working on boring projects”

  1. John1086 on April 8th, 2009 2:45 am

    Very nice site!

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