bad work from 2011
Crying
like a baby.
3min read
back then:

While working for Itaú, we had a mission to convince more clients to use the online banking services, specially those who would decrease the use of physical paper, such as credit card monthly bills or other types of communication. The campaign would be, as usual, broadcasted nationally. The agency came up with an idea proposing to brand a 2-year-old viral video from Youtube made by a regular user at the time. The video showed a baby ripping off a piece of paper on screen, laughing his heart out in the process and millions of people had watched it already - and of course, had a lot of fun with it. You might remember it. Yeah, that one.

Although the context fit the brief, I just thought: why? Why branding a video that went viral a couple years ago? Really? Can’t we come up with something more? That’s the easiest way! I said it. Not once, but many times. But the campaign got approved. And it generated (more than the expected) results, they were massive. It was a hit, actually. A viral from a viral. Yeah, I know.



Personally, the ideation process, when you get to see an idea being built, preferably by a team, is the most exciting moment of a project. And for me, although I was the client, that part was clearly missing.

understanding:

failure

I didn’t present the best arguments. I was too focused on the negative aspects and it made me not go for alternatives. As part of the client’s strategy one, I should have triggered a more valid, open and healthy discussion of why that idea should be used as a reference, not the final piece.



Embrace the “why”,
but work harder
on the “because".

this was a bad work from 2011

reflect & learn

Ever since, I’ve given great emphases on how to give feedback about an idea. You can never know how is going to be the reaction of the other person/group on the other side, but having a better understanding of how to structure the thoughts, better questions and, even more importantly, better outputs for these questions, might lead to break the wall and make everyone work together into a different path.

Also, I’ve been learning (it’s a never ending process, I guess) to know when to let go and turn myself into a positive asset of a project, even if it’s one I'm not fond of, which can happen many times during the career.

-- If you're curious to watch the video, here is the link (in portuguese): Sem Papel (Paperless)

do you have a failure story to share?
i'd love to hear about.