Why planners should be photographers too

It's a cliché thing to say but an essential part of being a marketer is to get out of work mode, and get into real world mode.

There are numerous ways this can be achieved, but it's essential to get outside the industry bubble. To remind us we're not our audience. To remind us we're people too. To remind us people aren't 'targets', words aren't 'copy' and to remind us not everyone wakes up and thinks about our clients brands every day.

I have a few ways to try and combat being sucked into the marketing vortex, as we all do.

Recently I've been getting into my photography. Getting out over a weekend with the camera and trying to snap some of the interesting, real, parts of Singapore and beyond. I've been popping the snaps on my instagram because I don't really know what to do with them to be honest.

And it's struck me that there are a few reasons why us marketing types, and strategists in particular, should be like photographers a little more:

Go beyond the surface to fine the really interesting stuff

I'm interested to try and find the stories behind the image. The interesting things come when you scratch the surface and go beyond. The surface is what people want to portray, but getting beneath that is the interesting stuff.

Don't focus on the focus, look around the edges

Sure, the stuff at the centre of the photograph is important, but it's the elements around it that turn it from good to great. A great photograph is greater than the sum of its parts - it has something relevant in every area of the composition. So whilst the eye may be drawn to the central narrative, the rest of the composition should add to it (or not detract from it).

There is extraordinary in the everyday

The word 'everyday' is looked down on in life, and especially in the marketing industry. Nobody wants to create the 'everyday', the humdrum - everyone wants to create extraordinary. Nobody wants to target the 'everyday' consumer - they want to appeal to the influencers, the opinionated, the minority. But the everyday is beautiful. It's beautiful because it's not extraordinary. It's beautiful because it's ordinary. It just depends on how you look at it and how you frame it. It's a perception thing. And ordinary (in the design world especially) is a mark of genius. Ubiquity is proof that the object is bloody good at what it's there to do.

Be open to what you're looking for

When I go out with the camera I know a rough area I'm headed for, or a general subject I'm interested in, but I never set myself too tight a brief. It's the same with looking for insights when we're trying to crack a client brief - if we go looking for something specific you become blind to everything else around it. And this can lead to confirmation bias. Sometimes it's what we're not looking for that becomes the most interesting thing.

There are guide rails but the rules are there to break

One of the things I'm struggling with a bit in my photography is understanding the rules... exposure, aperture, ISOs, shutter speeds... I kinda just mess about. I'm learning more as I go, but I'm treating that stuff as guide rails and not rules. Otherwise how will I learn? How will I offer something different to the rest? And it's the same with your career. There are things you need to learn about the system. Things we all need to learn about how agencies work, how clients business works, how departments work. But when you know that don't stick to it - break it. Evolve it. Offer something different.

Success is not binary

This last learning is something I've always professed, but sometimes struggle with. And it's been exacerbated by all the judging I've been doing recently. In the past 6 months or so I've judged the APAC Effies, SG Effies and also the APG Awards in London. And in every single case I've viewed and marked someone else's work in a very different way to other judges, and we've had a bit of a heated discussion to back up our opinions. Because that's all they are - opinions. Photography, and marketing, are not scientific endeavors with binary outcomes. They are subjective forms of creativity. (Now I know at this point I'll get some agencies pointing me toward their very impressive list of effectiveness awards - and justifiably so - but bear with me.) Of course there is a science that is essential to the work we create, but if we only look at effectiveness then cultural impact (that doesn't directly drive a commercial return) is at risk of being relegated. And cultural impact matters. What we do in the world matters beyond profit. It must do for our clients and it must do for our agencies. It must do for us as individuals. So if you didn't get through in that awards show, if you didn't win that gold - don't worry about it. Be happy with the impact you've made. (And if you did win don't let it go to your head because trust me, I saw just work just as good from some of the non-winners...). It's the same with photography. Who is the 'best'? Who knows? Is it even possible to assess? Well, who cares? So long as you get value from it keep doing it and fuck the naysayers.

Get your camera out, and think like a photographer.