By Joost Narraina, Strategic Creative Director
The conference room was impressive. Floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the Scheldt, expensive art on the walls, and twelve people around a table discussing how to spend money they didn't realize they were about to waste.
I was there for what I thought would be a routine consultation with a mid-sized manufacturing company. They'd invited me to review their upcoming content strategy. Nothing urgent, just a second opinion on their plans.
Fifteen minutes into the presentation, I realized I was watching a financial disaster unfold in real time.
Marc, their marketing director, was walking through next quarter's initiatives with obvious pride. Professional PowerPoint, clear timelines, detailed budgets. Everything looked organized and well-planned.
"So we're launching our employer branding campaign in March," he said, clicking to a slide showing €28,000 allocated for recruitment videos.
"April brings our customer acquisition push," another click, "€35,000 for product demonstration content."
"And in May, we roll out the sales enablement materials," final click, "€25,000 for presentation videos and case studies."
"Plus leadership wanted thought leadership content throughout," added Sarah from HR, "another €15,000 for executive positioning videos."
Total budget: €103,000 over three months.
I sat there doing mental math while they discussed production timelines and vendor selection.
"Can I ask you something?" I interrupted, probably more abruptly than I should have.
The room went quiet.
"You're essentially creating the same content four times, just calling it different things."
Marc looked confused. "No, these are completely different campaigns with different objectives."
"Are they though?"
I walked to the whiteboard and started drawing connections.
"Your recruitment videos will show authentic company culture and employee expertise, right?"
Nods around the room.
"Your customer acquisition content will demonstrate your capabilities and results?"
More nods.
"Sales enablement will prove your track record and team competence?"
"Yes, but..."
"And leadership positioning will showcase your expertise and vision?"
I turned back to face them.
"You're telling the same story four times to four audiences who actually have more overlap than you realize."
Nobody spoke for about thirty seconds. I could see wheels turning, faces changing expression as they started connecting the dots I'd drawn on the whiteboard.
"So what are you suggesting?" Marc finally asked.
"One strategic creative approach that serves all four objectives simultaneously. Same budget, four times the impact."
Instead of four separate campaigns, I proposed one integrated content strategy:
Behind-the-scenes documentary content showing real employees solving real customer problems. This would serve as authentic recruitment material, customer proof points, sales case studies, and leadership positioning simultaneously.
Customer success stories featuring both client results and the team members who delivered them. Recruitment gold, customer acquisition content, sales presentation material, and thought leadership all in one.
Executive interviews conducted in the context of actual work environments and customer interactions. Not studio-shot talking heads, but authentic leadership moments that served multiple strategic purposes.
Original plan: €103,000 for four separate campaigns, each serving one business objective.
New approach: €45,000 for one strategic campaign serving four business objectives simultaneously.
Savings: €58,000 in hard costs, plus immeasurable improvement in message consistency and strategic alignment.
But the real value wasn't the money saved. It was the amplification effect of coordinated messaging across all touchpoints.
The problem wasn't stupidity or poor planning. It was organizational structure creating artificial silos.
Marketing owned "brand campaigns." HR owned "recruitment content." Sales owned "enablement materials." Leadership owned "thought leadership."
Each department was solving their piece of the puzzle without seeing how the pieces connected.
Nobody had strategic overview connecting all four business objectives through unified creative strategy.
Three months later, we executed the integrated approach.
Results:
Same team, same budget, dramatically better outcomes because everything reinforced everything else instead of competing for attention.
Most companies hire creative professionals to execute their plans, not to question whether the plans make strategic sense.
They wanted a vendor to produce four campaigns. What they needed was strategic direction to solve one business challenge four different ways.
The difference: tactical thinking versus strategic thinking.
Tactical: "How do we create recruitment videos, customer content, sales materials, and leadership positioning?"
Strategic: "How do we tell our authentic story in ways that attract talent, customers, and opportunities simultaneously?"
Walking back to my car after that meeting, I realized something important about my own value proposition.
The €58,000 I saved them in that conference room didn't come from being a better video producer or more efficient project manager.
It came from seeing connections they couldn't see because they were too close to their own organizational structure.
That's strategic creative direction: the ability to step outside operational silos and connect business objectives through unified creative strategy.
Since that meeting, I've encountered this pattern repeatedly. Companies planning separate campaigns for marketing, HR, sales, and leadership without recognizing the massive efficiency and effectiveness gains available through strategic integration.
The waste isn't just financial. It's strategic. Disconnected campaigns create confused messaging, diluted impact, and missed opportunities for amplification.
The best strategic creative direction often happens before any creative work begins. It's the thinking that prevents expensive mistakes by connecting objectives that departments treat as separate problems.
Most companies need someone who can see the forest, not just optimize individual trees.
That manufacturing company didn't just save €58,000. They gained a competitive advantage through coordinated messaging that their competitors, still operating in silos, couldn't match.
Sometimes the most valuable thing you can do in a meeting is draw connections on a whiteboard that nobody else sees.
The €100,000 mistake I prevented wasn't poor execution. It was poor strategy masked as good planning.
Stay great,
Joost
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