Advertising Methodology - (1) Introduction to the "V-Model"

Most advertising campaigns pull at a subset of activities that allow an Advertising Agency to produce a TV commercial, a newspaper ad, a banner ad, or some other “media insert”. Imagine if you will the conversation between the Advertising Agency and the Client,

• Client: I want more people to know what I sell, … I want a TV ad, … and my budget is $x.
• Advertising Agency: [pause on a brief consideration of the stated goal. Then, toss out easy or crazy creative first, second, third idea, etc.. Concepts that could win awards. Concepts that could change their world. Then ... Make a leap of faith at a Concept and heads for the Pitch.]
• Client: [Salivating] Let's do it.

After that, all that is left is the actual production of the creative and some media buying. No one ever measures the results. So, the campaign must be working.

Hmmm … There must be a better way!

There is, and it starts with a "V-Model". A "V-Model" is a representation of a project that aligns "Responsibility" for activities horizontally on the diagram. At the same time, as you step through it from left to right (i.e. from top to bottom on the left side of the "V", and the bottom to top on the right side), you get a clear representation of the steps necessary to deliver the project. Here's what a simplified "V-Model" might look like.
In this diagram the train of events for a project is simply:

1. Senior Management has a vision of what they believe they need to achieve results
2. Middle Management boils that concept down and provides instructions to their teams on what to build and potentially how to build it.
3. Workers (be they knowledge workers, laborers, or a combination) set out to design and build the "thing".
4. Workers (preferably other workers than those who designed and built the "thing") subsequently test the "thing" - perhaps by editing it, running it through a formalized test (e.g. a focus group or systematic IT testing) with the goal of ensuring the "thing" works or fails, and then getting the Builders to fix it as necessary.
5. Middle Management reviews the results of the test and makes the decision that what was built actually works as it was supposed to, is what they asked for, and more importantly, will deliver on the vision. They sign-off to put the "thing" into "production".
6. The "thing" produces results which either are satisfactory to the Senior Management or are not. If they aren't then the Senior Manager failed at any or all of (a) the vision, (b) ensuring a good system was in place to communicate the vision and requirements in order that the right "thing" was produced, or (c) creating, uniting, and aligning a great team that could produce.
   

... Next up in this series, we'll look at a "V-Model" for Advertising. Stay tuned.