Creativity Central [Marty Baker]

A few years ago I came across an essay by David Mamet called “The Audience: Or, lessons from duck hunting. (Bambi vs. Godzilla, 2007)

It has resonated with me ever since.

“A duck decoy doesn’t need to look like a duck. It needs to look like a duck to a duck.  Wisdom, therefore, lies not in the phenomenological question ‘What does a duck look like?’  But, rather, in the practical ‘What is a duck looking for?

“A wealthy hunter might bespeak a decoy realistic to the nth degree. This decoy might be realistic in every particular of size, form, color, and yet the poor hunter in the next blind down might be attracting all the ducks with his roughed out and unpainted decoy.  Why is that?”

It was a metaphor for the evolving relationship with movie producers and the audience.

But it applies equally as well to marketers.

Typically, a client will say they need a brochure.  We marketers who are consistently in the wooing mode, say “we can do that.” Sure, we can create a wonderfully-crafted decoy.

What we really want to say is “Do you really need a brochure?”  “Who is the audience and what do you want them to feel, think or act?” The good agencies do that.  But most are still in the decoy business.  

The yang problem is that often the audience doesn’t or can’t articulate what they want.  The classic story, probably apocryphal, is from Henry Ford. “If I asked people what they wanted, they would probably say faster, more comfortable carriages.”

So how do we stop creating decoys?  That’s the value of creativity. Don’t start with answer. Start with a question.  How might we get more people to attend our college?  How might we get more people to invest with our bank? Or how can we start building trust with a prospect?

One answer may be a brochure. Or maybe it’s better word of mouth. Or something no one else is doing.

I’m bringing a duck to my next meeting.  How about you?