Our creative moves not only by design. It moves the consumer to feel, and to act. It moves success metrics. It even moves judges of award competitions because they see its strategy at work and react to it as online users do.

How we get to this kind of creative is core to our agency.

In a process similar to the way an actor gets into character, we start by immersing ourselves in the brand.

That means research—on the brand, competitive landscape, consumer demographics and psychographics. Sometimes we have weeks to do it, often only days. But we do it because it’s critical.

A lot of creative shops have contempt for this process. They call it ‘analysis paralysis’. We call it fundamental. We look at a lot of creative from other shops, even those we admire, and often can tell right away which shop it’s from. That’s not what we’re about. We’re creating something to be owned by the brand, not by us.

Next comes a filtration process in which we challenge the task we’ve been given.

Even in a good brief, we may find competing objectives. We may get input that stands in the way of the consumer insight. We distill everything to its essence. Sometimes it even requires challenging the client on their assumptions. Is this really where they want to go? Is this how the medium’s going to work best for them?

Then, rather than trying to hit a bull’s eye immediately, which we know often leads to the wrong answer, we work around the problem, allowing ourselves to go in different directions. Only a few lead to the creative mother lode—the big campaign idea that can translate into any medium, online or off.

When we think we’ve reached that big idea, then we validate it.

Together with the account, media and in-house strategy teams, who provide critical checks and balances, we ask the tough questions. Are we in the right ballpark? Is it on brief? Is it ownable by the brand? Can we cover up the logo and still see the brand shine through?

When the answer to these questions is yes, when the work is a rallying cry that excites the agency, excites the client and the consumer, that’s when we know it’s right. That’s when we know we’ve created work that moves.