The first one isn’t throw it in the bin. If that’s what you were thinking. But there’s certainly value in declining projects when they don’t feel they’re right.
If you work in the events industry, or agency land, you may well have experienced this exact scenario: a brief comes in, and it ticks every positive box. Exciting product and brand, clear vision, a unique challenge. Except for that one, stand out factor; it needs a quick turnaround.
When approached by M&C Saatchi most of us wouldn’t reach for the bin, (unless you’re feeling nauseous with excitement) specially excited when the brand you’re being asked to work on is one of, if not the, biggest in the world. Coca-Cola.
It’s time for the list.
Make sure it’s right for you
It can be easy for all those exciting and positive factors to cloud the judgement and lead you and your team into taking on a project that you can’t deliver.
For our project with Coca-Cola, it happened to fit perfectly with the skills, experience and even hardware that we’d been developing for many years. We knew we could deliver on this interactive projection installation, because it’s our bread and butter, we knew we could do it and do it well within the time frame.
If the project feels like a stretch or you need lots of external contractors to help deliver it, it might be time to say no and walk away with your reputation intact.
Agree on the details
There were lots of moving parts with this project, we needed a sperate green screen studio setup with a 4K camera rig and lighting, then the projection installation and interactive game not to mention all the graphics content and video editing and processing.
We made sure that the agreement we had in place was detailed and managed everyone’s expectations from the start on exactly what we would deliver. Which is essential for avoiding that “I thought you were doing this…” moment when you’re in the middle of delivery.
Have faith in your own expertise
There were partner organisations involved in the project, which means lots of experts all combining to meet the challenge. It’s easy for there to be lots of crossover with certain elements and multiple voices and competing opinions.
Taking ownership of the things we were good at, namely projection and interactive content, allowed for no mistakes and ensured a successful delivery. It also puts everyone’s minds at ease, knowing that it was being handled and it would get done.
Have a good middleman
We all have our specialism, a great team works well when all our individual skills and knowledge combine to deliver on a project. When delivering a project as complex and technical as this, our technical people need to focus.
That’s where our excellent project and account management teams play such a vital role, linking everything together, keeping the conversations with stakeholders flowing, giving the tech people time to work their magic.
Enjoy the process
Enjoy your job and you’ll never work another day in your life. Might sound twee, but there’s such a buzz to be taken from working in the events space. It’s always important to stop and appreciate when a project goes well and to find enjoyment in the process and more importantly not to lose your head when things outside of your control go wrong.
You can see more detail about our successful project with M&C Saatchi for Coca-Cola in this video.
Look forward to hearing your thoughts or questions below.
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