Don't go changing

 
Want to know how to win the first round of a game of paper, scissors stone?

Hold a clenched fist out in front of you before the game starts, then put it behind your back as you begin counting. On 3, reveal your hand… still in a fist shape (ie stone).

Most people will be showing scissors. Rock blunts scissors, you win.

Although I have a degree in psychology, I can’t really claim to know why this works more often than not.

My theory, however, is that when you show your opponent your starting position of a fist, they do the same, because they follow your lead as to how the game should start.

Then, of course, they have a clenched fist behind their back, the count goes on and they feel the need to do something. And the most action you can take when your hand is in a fist shape is to change it to scissors.

Which means by ‘doing nothing’ and keeping your hand in a fist, you win.

This need to take action – and by doing so, lose – pervades many areas of life, including fundraising marketing and charity advertising.

Marketing directors change jobs every couple of years, and when they start somewhere new, feel the need to show they’re doing something – taking action – by changing the campaign that’s been running, regardless of how well it’s performed. Rosser Reeves (advertising pioneer and inventor of the TV ad) was once asked by a client what the 47 people working on his account were doing when the campaign hadn’t changed for 12 years.

“Keeping you from changing the ad,” was Rosser’s instant reply.

Nowadays, needless change can occur because of the way some big organisations work. Namely, that some of them insist that about 20 different people across 8 different departments have to approve every piece creative work.

And if you’re given some creative work to sign-off, how do you show that a) you’ve seen it and b) you’re adding value?

By changing something. You literally ‘make your mark’. And 19 other people do exactly the same, creating a ‘designed by committee’ nightmare.

Maybe we should champion the idea that sometimes, the best contribution you can make is to look at something, not find every detail to your own personal taste and still be strong enough to not change it. To leave it as it was intended, so it retains a single, strong voice.

The funny thing is, if you do refrain from making changes the creative team will work harder on your account, knowing more of what they put in will get out.

In 1962, Avis gave DDB their ad account.

The CEO of Avis wanted (and needed) great work to compete with Hertz, but they only had a small budget. Bill Bernbach, creative head of DDB, told him that if he wanted the creative team to work nights and weekends coming up with great work, all he had to do was to run the ads as they were submitted. No changes.

Avis agreed. The creative team worked like buggery, knowing what they created wasn’t going to have the life amended out of it.

And the ‘We try harder’ campaign became one of the longest-running, best-known and most successful of all time.