Do You Suffer from ISS?

Books could be written about the psychology of promotional campaigns--not the campaigns themselves, but the interaction between the organizations and agencies that create them. The most interesting phenomenon is what I call Interim Solution Syndrome, or ISS.

ISS often starts with a mixture of envy and aspiration. You want to launch a new service or product line. You want it to be just as good as what your competitors did last year, as entertaining as your favorite Super Bowl ad, as edgy as that YouTube video you got last week, as "out of the box" as that company's crazy booth at the show in Vegas.

There's only one problem: The budget isn't there.

This is the germ of ISS. You're stuck between wanting the highest quality but keeping it within budget. If it doesn't measure up to what your competitors did creatively, there'll be Hades to pay. But if it costs a fortune... well, there's no way to slip it by Accounting.

You know you've contracted full-fledged ISS when you start saying the following:

"We just need something for right now, then we can go back and change it."
"This is just a Phase I. We'll worry about that in a Phase II."
"We just need a band aid."
"We want something with great photography like this, but we can use stock."

Unfortunately, the reality sinks in mid-project. The "right now" solution doesn't look so hot. Phase II never comes. The stock photography is all over the map, and if you want to keep using it, the royalty fees are more than the photo shoot would have cost in the first place.

This is the evil of the Interim Solution. Psychologically, it's a salve. Realistically, it's a trap.

Agencies are complicit, because they take the job thinking they'll convince you to up the budget as you go. (Agencies are driven by their portfolios. They want to create work that makes clients happy. But secretly, they're more interested in creating work that wins awards and helps them get new clients.)

So what do you do? Plan ahead, secure the right budget and set the right expectations. Hah! Just kidding (can you hear the howls of laughter from marketing VPs on the verge?).

Just be realistic. As a marketer, don't expect to get a Nike ad for $10,000. As an agency, don't over-promise and under-deliver. Recognize an interim solution for what it is:

An interim solution.