Doubts and opinions

It’s been a while since I last posted here. For the last days, I’ve been thinking about things to blog about … and I couldn’t find a topic I was interested enough in (or interesting enough about). Which makes exactly that the topic for this post: opinions, the lack of them, and the doubts about them.

We’re paid and expected to have opinions. That’s what clients want us for - at least partly - creativity also goes a long way

This week I was in a meeting with a prospect, and although upon going in, I was determined to stick to our agency presentation, and possibly a few loose comments on their previous communication, before I knew it I was freely giving away my opinion on what I think they ought to do.

And I may still be convinced about what I said, and it may even have gone down quite well, I’m not sure I like what I see when I look upon myself in those circumstances. A babbling, talking, self-assured ad guy. Because: where does my opinion come from? Who am I to tell others what to do - not necessarily after careful deliberation, but because that’s what I think?

One of the questions one of the people on the other side of the table asked, was exactly that: do you base your recommendations on scientific findings? And although I said, no, not scientific, I did say that we try to base it on findings and studies and data. But how true is that? Or rather, don’t we try to find the studies and data that corroborate our initial opinion? And then: is this bad? Can’t we assume something like intuitive knowledge, based on years of experience with consumers, brands and trends?

This is not an existential question for me; I’m not questioning my professional reason-of-being. But it is a good idea to remind oneself to always stay curious, open and not blas?. Not always easy; the alternative is much easier and less time-consuming.