Bridging the Gap Between Vision and Understanding.

I remember the first time I heard, “It’s great, but consumers don’t get it.” I was in the back room of focus groups, and I struggled (and succeeded) to suppress a response to this absurd outburst. The memory is as vivid today as it was in that moment, and I’ve had other occasions throughout the years when that feeling was reinforced.  For example, I’ve watched  a client storm out of a backroom when the new product being tested was received poorly.  The client felt the respondents were to blame for not getting how it was supposed to work.  I had another client storm into the actual focus group room and yell at the respondents for misunderstanding the ad copy. These are extreme examples, and very rare, but the refrain of,  “This is good, they just don’t get it.” reverberates around meetings and groups all the time. 

The Fine Line Between Greatness and Miscommunication

I’ve thought a lot about the idea that there could be a “good campaign” or a “good product” that didn’t land with the target audience;  it is an interesting thought experiment.  On one hand, that sounds like denial and blame when the productive thing to do would be to admit the campaign failed and determine why. On the other hand, there are occasions when a good idea and execution could fail because of a fairly small problem or external conflict. The thought exercise begs the question, when do you go back to the drawing board and when do you keep the idea but adjust the delivery?  

Ego, Feedback, and the Power of Small Change

My sister is a stand up comedian, an extraordinarily hard job. Her career has given me a front row seat at many shows and a glimpse into this fascinating world. I have watched as a comedian absolutely kills with a set one night, and bombs with the same material another night.  Comedians talk about this often, and there is an art to reading the external factors (the audience, the mood of the day, etc) and weighing them against the factors under a comedian’s control (the delivery, the timing, the physical mannerisms).  Comedy can be a brutal test of the ego, since it feels so much like the audience is reacting to you, even though it is largely scripted.  It can be tempting to focus on external factors when something goes wrong.  Comedians might be tempted to blame the crowd, or the opener, or the room instead of the material or the delivery.  This focus on the external environment can become an impediment to growth and improvement. 

Few professionals, including marketers, are immune from taking feedback (well-intentioned or otherwise) personally, after all, passion for one’s job is a critical element for success. In those moments, it is tempting to look beyond the stimuli for reasons why the idea didn’t land as anticipated.  Sometimes, the idea is wrong and needs to be abandoned and re-imagined leveraging the insights learned from consumer feedback.  But other times, and this is beguiling, the marketers are not necessarily wrong.  

Adjusting the Message Without Losing the Magic

In those very backrooms where absurdity sometimes abounds, I have seen consumer reactions to a product or communication turn with the smallest adjustments or changes.  A small change stumbled upon during research can have an outsized impact on consumer perceptions of a product or message. Sometimes a simple wording change can instantly move the needle with the target audience. Whatever human truth or moment that change taps into is often enough to redirect the entire narrative. It is similar to entertainment stories where the addition or deletion of one small scene in a script totally changes the way people perceive and relate to a movie.  

From Confusion to Connection: The Art of Getting It Right

What this has taught me is to remove the ego, keep the passion, and take the feedback. It’s not always easy – feedback can feel personal, especially when you’ve poured your creativity, time, and energy into an idea. But the truth is, embracing constructive criticism is often the key to growth. Sometimes that means going back to the drawing board, re-imagining the idea entirely, and finding a new approach that resonates more deeply with the target audience. Success often lies in the willingness to adapt without losing sight of the original vision, and in the courage to trust that even the smallest changes can make the biggest difference. After all, the ultimate goal isn’t just to create something great – it’s to create something that connects, inspires, and lands exactly as intended.