It’s always interesting to be given the opportunity to see
how your competitors approach proposals and debriefs. Theirs is never as good
as yours of course; either they’re asking too much for too little when it comes
to the proposal; or they’re stating the obvious and delivering minimal insight
when it comes to the debrief.
These days, though, another element has become a major
issue, if not the major issue when it comes to how people judge both proposals
and debriefs. And this is the way in which both these elements of a project are
presented.
You see already in writing this I’m starting to get worried
that I’m becoming a tad wordy. And already I’m beginning to have concerns that
because I haven’t provided illustrations for the words ‘style’ or ‘substance’
in my title that many of you have switched to trying to find something else to
read instead.
But for those who have made it this far I would like to make
a point about what I see as a case of style over substance in some of the research
documents to which I have recently been exposed.
In these documents I have seen colour aplenty, photographs
in abundance, numerous videos, and musical accompaniments too; and whilst some
of this serves to complement and support a given argument or story, much of the
rest I feel is often verging on the gratuitous.
What I also feel is that in some cases such devices are
employed at times when argument generally is lacking and when a narrative has
not even been considered, much less thought through.
Please don’t get me wrong here; I’m all for the use of
graphics, illustrations, video material et al if it is being used for a purpose
and not just for effect. I’m all for the use of any means by which a proposal
can be made more interesting, a presentation can flow more smoothly and be
better communicated.
But I’m only in favour of this if a proposal is strong on
substance already and a presentation has been thought through properly. If this
is not the case then I believe that many of the devices mentioned above might
eventually serve to devalue our industry more than enhance it.
The written word, I feel, has been fundamental to the way
this industry has grown and developed to date. I’d like the use of words to
remain a key part of how we continue to communicate. Let’s not gloss over this
in our obsession with all things bright and shiny and new.
Now I’m hoping you made it this far in your reading.
Otherwise I’ll start to wish I’d kept the original title for this piece. It was
‘fur coat and no knickers’, so you can imagine how much fun might have been had
on Google image with that.
