One advertising lesson that I will never forget

Back in my final year in college as a Communication Arts student, I encountered the toughest yet the best academic experience of my life. Under Professor Gil Velez, we were tasked to create an Integrated Marketing Communications plan for one brand within a week.

I always thought that we will never be able to learn through this method of one full campaign in one week because the time was too short and we aren’t experienced advertisers. But I was wrong. At the end of the semester, I realized that it was indeed the best and the most effective way to teach us the course.

We had 8 three-unit subjects that semester and it was our final year in college so needless to say, we had enough stress even without the weekly accounts. However, me and my classmates can’t do anything about it but to post our rants online and blame the Professor, little did we know we are about to learn something far more than we have expected.

Days went by fast, we started meeting in groups, squeezing all the creative juices out of our heads in order to a least be able to pitch a decent campaign proposal in class. We had to pull everything together in just seven days: surveys, research, creative executions and the creative six pack.

Fast forward to the present time, I say I had learned one valuable IMC lesson that for me would never be out of season, a lesson that is so simple yet timeless: The consistency of an IMC plan must be the top most priority.

Communication platforms evolve, technology never stops advancing, people’s behavior changes, lifestyles differ but if a campaign’s big idea and execution are consistent with its objectives then it can never be so bad. All kinds of plans  if not carefully drafted are doomed to fail sooner or later.

Everytime we pitch a proposal, our professor would often focus on the cohesion and consistency of our campaign. This might be because he knows we are beginners and that we try to incorporate all our ideas in one campaign  that we tend to make a chaotic mix of unachievable plans. Because of those comments and sometimes reprimands, me and my group have learned the valuable lesson of keeping the campaign’s big idea as simple, direct yet rock-solid and penetrating.

The power of a campaign is its ability to make an impression, communicate a message and make it last long enough in the minds of the public. It has to achieve the desired end which is purchase and repeat of purchase and then brand loyalty. This could only be possible if the marketing plan maintains its simple yet striking seamless execution of efforts whether in above, through or below the line ads.

Bottom line is, a marketing plan is created to be organized, directed and to make sure objectives are fulfilled. Now the secret to achieving the goals are creative executions that are faithful to the big idea, and big ideas that are committed to the wishes and demands of the brief.

I am just about to begin my journey to the real world of advertising and communications, I may not know much but I have more than enough willingness to learn. So with all my learned lessons from that semester and that whole college experience, I say this business is more than just persuasion and creativity, it’s a craft – it’s an art.