Listening to Greg Milneck of Digital FX talk in detail about how the TV spots were produced reminded me of an important – and often overlooked – part of the creative process.

The execution.

Much of the creative process revolves around coming up with the idea. Creatives will spend hours and hours trying to turn a blank sheet of paper into an attention-getting ad that will generate big results. It’s a process that takes quite a bit of effort and determination. And once the ideas are written, designed, boarded up, presented and approved, there is tremendous sense of accomplishment felt by everyone involved.

But as satisfying as it is to have something you’ve created approved and maybe even praised, you’re not done. In fact, you’ve kinda just started. Think marathon, not sprint. It’s the effort that’s put into the idea after it has been approved that often makes it truly memorable.

Who you select to help you realize the potential of an idea is critical. For print work, choosing a photographer and selecting models can be critical to the overall success of the execution. For television, casting talent, choosing a musician to create the soundtrack and selecting a production company are key decisions that can make or break the idea.

It’s also important for the creative team to look back at what they’ve done and determine if it’s the best it can be. That’s easier said than done. After weeks of “living” with an idea and having it approved, it’s easy to get lulled into the sense that it’s fine as it is. The truth of the matter is, this is when creatives need to refocus and make that last push to greatness. There have been many times when me and the art director I worked with revised headlines, changed layouts or brainstormed better visual solutions on ideas that have already been approved by our client. And, in most cases, we got better results for the effort.

At every step throughout the creative process, it’s important for everyone on the team ask, “Is it the best it can be?” and “What can I do to make it better?” When they do, that’s when your creative has the chance to go from good to great.

Well, I believe it. During the course of one and a half hours, she tweeted tip after tip after tip on how bloggers can improve the effectiveness of their blogs when it comes to leads and sales.

As all this great info was flying past my eyes, I kept thinking, “God, I wish there was a one-sheet with all this great information that I could reference at a later date. I can’t process all of this.” Then it struck me … why not create it.

So I have. You can find it here: AAfrica_BlogTips. You’ll find all the great tips that Amy tweeted during #blogchat.

Of course, if you want less “play-by-play” and more “what’s it all mean”, you can read Mack Collier’s recap: http://moblogsmoproblems.blogspot.com/ or @zkellyq’s http://www.zkellyqueijo.com/zkqblog/.

Also, Amy herself will be posting her thoughts as well at www.amyafrica.com.

Lastly, you can find the transcript of the entire #blogchat discussion here: http://wthashtag.com/transcript.php?page_id=939&start_date=2009-07-26&end_date=2009-07-26&tz=2%3A00&export_type=HTML.

As for me, I know I have a lot of work to do to improve this blog. If you have any ideas, please let me know at stuart@wfcommunications.com.

Recently, Jeff Goodby commented in Ad Age on how agencies are becoming “irrelevant award-chasers.” If you want to read the entire article (and the interesting replies), here’s the link: http://adage.com/cannes09/article?article_id=137525.

His point was that, all too often, creative work is done for fake or really small clients that no one has heard of. Because of this, it’s easier to get creative work through which, in turn, gives that sort of work an unfair advantage in the awards shows. As a result, more agencies are going this route to win awards rather than what his agency does: produce great work for big clients.

His solution is that “awards judges take into account the sheer “famousness” of a piece of work when they make their determinations.

I most certainly don’t agree with his take. To me, using the “famousness” of a campaign as some sort of juging criteria favors big shops with big clients. It should solely be the power of the idea that prevails, not the fact that it also ran on national TV or was featured prominantly in the top trade mags (which the judges read).

But offering a counter to Goodby’s position is, surprisingly, not the point of this post.

Throughout my career, I’ve come across people who’ve questioned the motives of creatives. “They’re only interested in winning awards.” they would say.

Au contraire. Our jobs as creatives is to motivate prospects to take action. Before we can do that, we have to get their attention … a difficult task with all the messages out there and the shrinking attention span of most people. Creativity is how we get people’s attention.  Because of that, I will always push myself and my team to find interesting creative solutions. Don’t settle for good. Insist on great. Sometimes we’ll get there. Sometimes not. But the bar should always be high.

Back to Jeff Goodby’s comments. I do agree with his basic premise that we should do great work for paying clients. At the end of my career, I don’t want my portfolio to simply be filled with a bunch of cool ads that won awards. I want the work in there to have moved the needle for clients. Gotten results. And if it was also recognized for it’s creativity, that’s icing on the cake.

Without further ado, then, I’ll just get started.

This whole social media stuff has really piqued my curiousity. I’m really amazed at the power of Facebook and Twitter and how both have already influenced my daily routine.

With FB, I’m reconnecting with all sorts of people. Friends, clients, old school mates. I did start off strong posting frequently, but now I just check in every so often.

Twitter has introduced me to all sorts of new and interesting people … especially in the ad industry.  I check in on this a couple of times a day people often post interesting articles. Now I’m about to update my phone (probably to a Palm Pre) and be more real time with everything. As a favorite band of mine once said, “Fasten your seatbelts …” (begin wailing guitar).

How has social media influenced your life? Do you blog? If so, send me a link and I’ll start reading what you think. If not, why don’t you? I would be interested to hear why.