Since you’ve seen and opened this (the curious you can’t help it. S.M.H.), I hope you are reminded that you, an advertising strategist/account planner, primarily exist in the marcomms ecosystem to increase the possibility of a campaign’s effectiveness.
Not necessarily to create one. Campaign effectiveness has been a thing before strategy/account planning’s birth in the late 1960s. It can still be without it.
You increase effectiveness by integrating deep market/consumer understanding into campaign planning, execution, and post-execution processes.
I hope you know this primary role demands you to inspire, motivate, clarify for, and instil confidence in teammates.
So they can bring their best inputs into campaign planning, execution, and evaluation processes.
And do advertising work that strengthens clients’ bottom lines, helps the agency thrive, and keeps the commercial cycle healthy.
You do this by, according to Martin Weigel, “shining light on the most important and rewarding thing” to focus efforts and resources on in a brief/business situation.
Dear strategist, I hope you prioritize being “respected” and “trusted” over being “liked.”
“Strategy is the search for truths,” Mark Pollard says, and I agree. Truths across relevant contexts to propose solutions to problems or directions to opportunities.
Prioritizing the need to be liked will likely weaken your ability to challenge the status quo and question stakeholder assumptions in search of these truths.
I hope you don’t read books because you’re a “strategist.”
Instead, you’re a strategist because you read and absorb everything—or almost everything—and sometimes books, particularly about people across cultural divides.
You do this by being non-judgmentally curious about, patient with, and obsessed with people and the contexts that influence them.
Because how much and how well you understand them directly influences your relevance in the marketing ecosystem.
I hope your confidence is rooted in what you know you’re capable of. Not in what your agency’s culture, politics, and client relationship dynamics permit you to do.
Because the quality of your thoughts and how great they turn out as campaigns are highly subjective to corporate politics and hidden commercial intentions—they almost always win over almost anything.
I hope your confidence is rooted in what you know you’re capable of. Not in what your agency’s culture, politics, and client relationship dynamics permit you to do.
Dear strategist, I hope you find a way to deal with intellectual loneliness—and maybe boredom.
Perhaps by finding an intellectual sparring partner or community within your mental range. Someone or people who appreciate your occasional weirdness, connect with your mind and effortlessly stretch your thoughts.
I hope you don’t consume a marketing campaign as an audience and then critique it like a typical marketing/advertising/strategy/creative “expert” on LinkedIn.
Because those are different states of mind that shouldn’t mix in this regard.
If you must provide a professional opinion on any campaign, be fair to have consumed such a campaign as such.
I also hope that if you’re labeled “over Sabi” “difficult” or “doing too much”, you dispassionately assess yourself.
And clarify if it’s due to others’ insecurities or if you’re a corporate a**hole. If it’s the latter, fix up, bro/sis/chicken and chips—or whatever you identify as.
If it’s the former, encourage them to fix their self-esteem issues.
Dear strategist, I hope you have an interesting life outside of marketing communications/advertising.
That your soul is excited, and your mind is nourished by other things, people, places, and activities.
Away from a profession that takes way more from you than it gives mentally, financially, morally, and emotionally.
Lastly, I hope you find the strength, clarity, courage, and support to quit strategy/advertising/marketing communications if you feel the need to.
Take your entire self into something else—something fulfilling and proportionately rewarding.
These are my hopes for you—the best of me I can give for now. Should I have more, trust me to return and give them all to you.
Dear strategist, I’m always cheering for you. Never forget that. And should I stop, it’s probably because I need some too —or my soul has paid its debt to death.
Onwards and upwards in clear thoughts.
Samuel Sokale
Samuel Sokale is a strategist by day and other things at night. Currently, he co-finishes office coffee (sometimes, office alcohol) and “annoys” teammates as head of strategy and insight at UpInTheSky Limited, Lagos, Nigeria.
You’ll find him blowing things up or cooling things down on Linkedin: Samuel Sokale, Twitter & Instagram: O_proz.
