Appreciation

Clients. You can't work with them, you can't work without them. Most creatives can't help getting a bit cynical about clients from time to time. They're the ones who killed their award winning campaign, they're the ones who want that logo bigger or added that extra promotion line which fucks up the ad.

But they're also the ones who pay the money. And that's what makes advertising, and especially advertising politics, so difficult. If you do exactly what they want, your client will get a bad campaign. If you don't listen at all, the client will leave. As an agency you have to find the right balance between doing what the client wants and what the client needs.

At Duval Guillaume the creatives usually don't go to the client. Our creative directors go to presentations so we can do what we're good at: creating good ads. On Wednesday, at the award show, I finally saw the client of Re-born to be alive, the donor foundation for which I've made the Obituary ad. They are the most warmhearted clients I've ever met. They thanked me for making the ad and how effective it has been. They were also happy that all the donor ads made by Duval Guillaume won so many awards. This felt so rewarding to me and it set me to think: why can't more clients give compliments like that? Creatives are sensitive to compliments and it makes them want to work even harder for clients.

Award shows are also good places to meet new people. I met a couple of other Dutchmen who live in Belgium: Roel and Wietse are two young creatives who worked at Famous. You can see their website here.