For Better Global Branding Work, Get on a Plane Abby Mansfield Vice President/Creative Director Let’s face it, a big part of creative development for a global brand is logistics. Certainly not one of the more glamorous aspects of global branding, but at some point it’s critical for multinational, multidisciplinary teams to be able to review, comment, and approve the agency’s creative work. And in our experience, in-person global team meetings at key points are vital to a collaborative, efficient creative process. Easier said than done, of course. Sometimes the number of people on a global brand team approaches that of a small country, with each person having their own set of priorities, schedules, and responsibilities. In-person meetings on a global scale are time consuming and expensive…can’t we all just do this via e-mail and WebEx? The answer is no…not if you want a campaign that unifies both your brand and your team. Working face-to-face with your team members and your agency is essential for everyone to gain ownership in the process and for the agency to build trust and understanding with multiple client groups. So how do you know when a conference call will do or when everyone needs to fly halfway across the world? Knowing that budgets and time are precious, here are 5 key touch points we think need to be in person. The Big Download Yes, PowerPoint presentations from global marketing and PDFs of clinical papers are terrific background materials, but there is no way to get your agency creative team up and running faster than to spend time with them — in person — giving them everything you know about your brand, your market, and your competition. Sounds obvious, right? Realize that at the beginning, you are much closer to your brand than your agency is — and much closer to the realities of your local markets than your global counterparts are. Bringing your marketing and scientific teams together for a concentrated input session allows your agency to ask questions, clarify data, and begin to see the compelling insights in your brand. The Creative Brief Approval This milestone often gets overlooked because it’s just a simple piece of paper. Just circulate it and get comments, right? Not so fast — and we can’t say this enough —the creative brief is a foundational document that will set the direction for your global campaign. Your global team needs absolute agreement on brief elements such as objectives, target audiences, brand positioning, and key messages. Since just one vague element on a brief can have disastrous consequences for the creative, we think it’s certainly worth arguing about in person. In our experience, having global teams review and comment on early drafts of the brief is just fine, but bringing the team together in one room (with a laptop available for final changes) to work through and finalize the brief assures that everyone is on the same page. Literally. The Concept Presentation This one is pretty obvious and most common, but we can’t overstate the need for that first creative unveiling to be in person. You need to see and touch the creative work. The agency team needs to see your reaction and your gut feedback in real time. And as a global client team, you need to evaluate the work as a group with common goals…not as separate regions dialing in from around the world. The follow-up presentation We have yet to work on a global brand where the client team agreed on and chose one creative idea at the initial presentation. Count on the fact that there will be revisions, suggestions, even redirection on occasion. Don’t downplay the need for an in-person meeting for that second concept presentation. In fact, schedule a second meeting at the same time you schedule the first. Creative presentations can go south very quickly when done over the phone, especially with a big group in different time zones. Believe me, we’ve all been there. Important Elements of Execution At the point where an idea goes from a comp to reality, major decisions need to be made and approvals gotten. Say the campaign requires photography which represents patients in vastly different regions of the world. Settings need to reflect cultural (everyone knows if a man is wearing gym shoes with pants he’s got to be an American) and practice differences. It’s probably worth your while to get a core team in one place to iron out specific direction regarding an important element of the campaign’s execution. On one hand, we’re thankful that e-mail and the internet have helped facilitate communication and make much of the global branding process more efficient. But when it comes to the creative process, which is often less linear and more subjective than we like to think, there’s no substitute for open, honest, face-to-face collaboration — in your time zone or ours. n Topin & Associates When it comes to the creative process, which is often less linear and more subjective than we like to think, there’s no substitute for open, honest, face-to-face collaboration. Topin & Associates is a full-service, independent medical marketing communications company. For more information, visit topin.com.

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