"Can you make the logo bigger?"
Steve Lance
What you (or your chatbot copilot) write is your personal brand statement. Good business writing is simple, clear and direct. Discover the value a writing coach can add to your career.
A number of years ago the creative director of Discovery, Inc. and I were showing an image campaign to the CEO. She listened to our presentation, took the board in her hands and said those six words every designer dreads. The CD’s response was (predictably) “You can’t make the logo bigger,” and I saw a flash of anger on the CEO’s face. In that moment I had an epiphany that led to all the books and workshops I’ve done the past ten years.
The CD was speaking from a lifetime of experience learning how to take consumers visually through a communication. When he said, “You can’t make the logo bigger,” what he meant was, “If you change the size relative to the other elements in the ad, the design will become unfocused, and no one will take in the message.” But CEOs don’t have a lifetime of design training…and many of them don't have an eye for good design. So when the CD said what he did, I realized the CEO heard, “YOU can’t make the logo bigger,” as if he was challenging her authority.
In that moment, “Creatives Are from Venus, Marketers Are from Mars – and How to Solve Your Earthly Problems” took shape. I realized there was an acute language disconnect between creatives and marketers, and if they understood that, they could bridge the gap. Does it work? Well, I invite you to see for yourself. Let me know if you’d like to schedule a 45-minute session for your team and reduce some of the frustrations and tensions I know marketing groups face when working with creatives.
For information and scheduling, contact me on LinkedIn.
It was an unfortunate word selection. Big difference between “can’t” and “shouldn’t”. Either way, one would hope that a follow-up explanation would have defused the situation.