Now imagine having to work with 20 such Willy Wonka’s everyday.
That’s what I do.
For the past three years I’ve been fortunate enough to work with some of India’s most creative business minds. I call them ‘Willy Wonkas’, everyone else calls them entrepreneurs. Working with them is nothing like anything I’ve done before. Entrepreneurs have made a profound impact on me personally and professionally.
Who is an entrepreneur?
If asked to define an entrepreneur, people often use words like shrewd, focused, confident, aggressive, dominant, leader, etc. While these adjectives taken collectively may accurately describe an entrepreneur, there’s a better way of defining him:
The one element that separates an entrepreneur from all others is an extra measure of ‘independent spirit’. Books don’t tell him what to say. Brand managers can’t tell him what to do. He never lets the noise of opinion muffle his inner voice. His briefs are stories from real life. Satisfaction is his nemesis. He’s a hungry bloke haunted by perpetual dissatisfaction. He believes life is too short to live someone else’s life. Oh and chances are he’s more creative than you. So don’t be afraid to brainstorm with him and he’d be glad to dismantle your concept of ‘a client’ and put together a whole new one. And that ladies and gentleman is an entrepreneur.
What’s it like to work with him?
You can’t make chocolate if you don’t love chocolate. Phil knight and Bill Bowerman were both athletes before they founded Nike. An entrepreneur is terribly passionate about his ideas and wants you to be every bit as passionate. Capital isn't that important to him. Neither is experience. Ideas are the only things that matter. He knows his consumers like the back of his hand. Consumer insights come to him like a bear to honey.
So whether its butter that’s better than butter but isn’t butter, a no petrol bike or a prickly heat powder that can change your body temperature, his is an idea that’s about to create a new habit, kick-start a new culture and of course begin a whole new category. He’s taken the road less travelled. It’s his first time and yours too.
There are no benchmarks, there are no standards, but he expects results. And as if an impossible category and an impossible product aren’t enough, you also have an impossible budget to work with.
New ideas don’t always get the resources they need to take off. TV and press aren’t always an option. Sometimes packaging and in-store ads are all you get. But an entrepreneur’s product ideas are worth every little challenge. And as his creative partner, it’s up to you to make your communication work.
When Mark Constantine started Lush fresh hand made cosmetics he relied on innovative products, in-store advertising, word-of-mouth, and PR to promote his products. Try naming a shower gel ‘Yummy yummy shower’ or call a shampoo ‘Curly wurly girly’ and see if it won’t sell.
Most creative people including me think they are messiahs; we think we’re god’s gift to advertising. We hate it when we our work is challenged. We believe that we can never be wrong. But an entrepreneur can change all that. When he shreds your creativity to pieces you might just find yourself saying, ‘I think he’s right’
Having an entrepreneur as a client is like having creative director as a client. We both depend on our instincts as much as we depend on reason. Each of us respects and trusts the other’s judgement and pushes the other to do better work. We hate jargons. But we love making ‘gobstoppers’ like they’ve never been made before and we love selling them like they’ve never been sold before.
(The writer is Executive Creative Director - Ignite Mudra)
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