Ambiguity
“They never know what they want.” Said with a roll of his eyes as they closed out the call. Not something anyone wanted to hear. Craig can be like that. When he’s down, he needs to bring everybody down. Maybe he thinks it’s okay ‘cause he’s the Creative Director.
Whatever. The last thing needed is his doom game.
On the call, Angelia, our client, was clearly distressed — AI, sweeping layoffs, and in a new job, given the latest reorg. And on top of that, UK inflation was ratcheting up, and so was her rent. All the above, plus her distress at our deck being too general and not answering her questions.
Maybe blowing off steam made Craig feel better. It made everyone else feel like shit as they packed up their notes, rose from the conference table, and left the room with its big screen.
Some days just start like this.
It was ten thirty in London now, only five thirty here in New York –– still dark outside. The lights of the city were muted by the rain streaming down the windows.
Lori said the unspoken –– she is the writer after all –– “Angelia must have been at her wits’ end. She’s got no clarity on this thing either…”
Craig cut her off with, “… and she doesn’t understand the workflow of an agency.” Said with the arrogance no one can stand. With that, they walked silently down the hall, where, at this time of day, the lights came on automatically as they passed through.
Lori couldn’t let it go, clearly pissed, her voice rising, “Craig, let’s do a little empathy here.” This said, as they stood around the coffee maker, awaiting their turns. “Angelia just needs our support. Maybe we could summarize our points to make them clearer and sharper. Think about what she’s facing. She’s gotta get her whole sales team on board.”
Jon spoke up for the first time, “The concept stuff was too ambiguous, too big picture…”
“… and” Lori on a roll now, “she needs some clear points that the salespeople will see as engaging.”
Filing out of the kitchen and settling around the work table, the warm pre-dawn light eased the harshness of the fluorescent lights.
Craig, now with his hands wrapped around his cup, said, “You’re right, sorry for my gloom. I know better. We need to spell out the parts of the DM kit quickly and include the key content of each.”
Lori was madly sketching out a diagram on her pad. “Okay, we got the outbound email, a landing page, the box itself, the gift, the brochure, and then the email response when they ask for more information. Right?”
At this point, Jon was leaning over Lori’s shoulder. Snapping a picture, he said, “Let me do a quick flow diagram. If you guys give me some words for key content, we can text her with the visual, and you can follow up with a call.”
The diagram, with content, went out a few minutes later. Lori made the call and actually reached Angelia. The diagram must have gotten her attention.
Angelia made a couple additions. And texted a thumbs up when she got the revision.
“Clarity out of ambiguity.” This from Craig.
“Cooperation.” This from Minh.
Lori smiled, relieved.
The retelling was a pleasure. The project was alive again.
Craig got angry when the client didn’t understand. Was it a personal complex of his? Something deep inside? Or just the result of long hours and related stress. There is no way of knowing, at least not in the short term.
In any case, the work didn’t meet the client’s needs, and by missing the mark –– the ambiguity, if you will –– threatened the relationship between client and agency. This time, fast action by the team brought Craig back into the fold and created an approach and clarity that worked for both agency and client.
