Creativity, or creative advertising, communications, strategies, is at heart, "unprovable". To ask to blindly trust a creative leader might be a tricky thing to do these days, so the best course of action is to, obviously, preempt as many hole-poking questions as possible. As Michael Jordan would say: "preparation removes any fear of failure". So, it is really all about prove them - with many examples as possible - that a way forward is possible, then it's all about making it unique, original, own able to your company or brand.

To win the game, you don’t start at kickoff—you start way before. Nail the front end—the exploration—and you'll spend a lot less time proving yourself after the fact. That brings us to audience research. Most of it? Surface-level stuff, barely scratches the paint. You’ve got to dig deeper. Like Nonfiction Research does, where we focus on uncovering the life hidden underneath the one people usually share with market researchers. That’s where all our chips are stacked. Effectiveness? Take a dive into the IPA's 'The Long & the Short of It' by Binet & Field. And let me throw in 'The Earned Effect Study'—one that I had the honor to co-author for Weber Shandwick with the IPA and Peter Field. You’ll find both on WARC.

One thing I have found useful is to research some similar creatives that the competition might have run and the recall value they have generated. While a data backed approach is a must in terms of core KPIs delivery, an additional validation of competition brands leveraging a similar creative approach brings more confidence to the stakeholders. This should be further tied down with the psychography of the audience niche to the brand to amplify the resonance value of your creatives.

People believe in results. Produce results and the skepticism generally goes away. What happens when you’re standing between strategy and results? Conduct yourself in a way where their patience can be entrusted to you. This will take time, but excellence as a standard will increase the ability for stakeholders to trust your work and most importantly, your word. A good name is to be desired above all things, so stick to the path of excellence and people will grow with you toward your goals.