The Pantone Was Perfect. The Message Wasn’t.

First, get the message right, then refine the form in which it is delivered.

I must confess: I was an asshole of a marketing executive in my younger years.

Almost 2 decades ago, I spent almost an entire day sitting behind a junior designer at our agency’s office.

I kept asking her to do stuff like adjust the font size.

And then the spacing.

And then the Pantone shade. 

And then the spacing AGAIN.

And then we went back to the font-size again.

Round n round we went…

A little bigger. A little smaller. Slightly warmer. No, slightly cooler. God I was annoying! 

The poor girl had to endure me hovering behind her for hours while I fussed over details that, at that time, felt critically important TO ME. 

I was wrong. I thought I was protecting the quality of the work. 

I had believed that getting every visual element exactly right was what separated good marketing from mediocre marketing. I was so wrong. 

Attention to detail does matter, but that perfect colour, font and spacing cannot rescue a weak idea.

Some years later, I came to a sudden realisation that that we had spent an enormous amount of time and effort endlessly polishing the execution without asking the most important question:

Was the message itself strong enough?

This got me thinking on the things that really mattered. 

There is a point where attention to detail becomes displacement activity, a way of feeling productive while avoiding the harder strategic questions:

What are we actually trying to say?

Why would the audience care?

Would they understand it?

Will they remember it?

Will it change how they think or feel about our brand or product?

A slightly imperfect Pantone shade rarely tanks a campaign, but an unclear, irrelevant or forgettable message often does.The core lesson was not to stop caring about craft, it was to put things in the correct order of priority:

First, get the message right. Then refine the form in which it is delivered.

Precision is valuable, yes, but not when it wastes time, effort and money that should have been better spent solving the real communication problem.

The Pantone was perfect. The message wasn’t.

And that was the part that actually mattered, and If I could go back in time and find that designer and apologise to her, I would. 

Before spending more time polishing the details, make sure the core concept and message itself is doing the real work.

If your brand, campaign or business communication feels busy but is not landing the right message with the right audience, click here and start a conversation with us…