Whether you’re on the account side or creative side, ad folks from all sides love to discuss what makes something “good” in the world of advertising. If your office is anything like ours, a day doesn’t pass without  receiving at least one URL from fellow coworkers showcasing insane work recently discovered. Most of the time, this new work includes some sort of out-of-home application or a viral YouTube video. It’s always great to share these campaigns and to view creative work, but what makes it good? Can a simple print piece be held to the same level of good as an interactive custom installed billboard?

Too often we look at “good” outside the realm of relevance to the clients. We all strive to push the envelope and create the stuff we come across through the Twitterverse. But we must also remember to maintain great creative through the practiced disciplines that we know best. We don’t need to be everything to everyone... We just need to be relevant and raise the bar in what we do best. We need to focus on an idea - an awesome idea - followed by solid design that communicates the message we’re trying to convey. This should always bring results to the client, no matter what the medium is and no matter how crazy the application may be. If the creative continually pushes the limits beyond great and produces results for the client, then consider it good and keep sticking to those guns.

“The process of understanding your clients’ needs and helping them discover the right application will always win in the long run,” says Joe Hahn, creative director. “It’s also our job to find innovative and creative ways to push clients into new realms of possibilities with great design and great ideas.”

The first component to consider is asking how this project will help your client’s business. Replicating The Bubble Project for a local bank probably isn’t the right medium to get more customers in the door. Developing a unified identity and brand campaign with print materials that tell the story of who the bank is and why people bank there is probably a stronger match.

No matter how cool you want your projects to look, they have to work. It’s worthless if it doesn’t create new awareness, retain consumers or bring in revenue. That is what we do. We help promote our clients brand and help them sell their products and services.  We stick to our guns with great design, great creative and ultimately, great ideas.