The emperor is still naked.

Last week a group from my work was preparing for a show and over the course of the planning for this show, it was discovered an iPad app I was developing would be a good tool to use in the booth. The problem was the booth was designed around a 70-inch touch screen. The idea was that attendees would  march up to this behemoth and happily engage with it, thereby creating fodder of interest and curiosity for other attendees to crowd around and be secretly jealous that they weren't the one touching the screen - only to go back to their respective groups to proclaim the awesomeness of our booth. It had a 70-inch touch screen! It was sure to be a hit! Right? So we scrambled and flew around and spent lots of money to get an iPad app to work on a larger scale, working to resolve the aspect ratio, resolution and a number of other issues. Who wouldn't have done this? 

::Facepalm::

Let me tell you a secret. The emperor has no clothes.

You know that story... the emperor who gets hoodwinked into purchasing the finest suit made of the finest cloth ever produced - the caveat is that only those who were competent in their roles could see the cloth. So by stating it was invisible basically told the world that you were an idiot.

Hans Christian Andersen - you genius.

How many times have you worked hard on a project that sounds great but the obvious is left unstated? In the beginning scenario, the "emperor having no clothes" is the notion that the tactic that the entire booth was designed around doesn't play to this audience. Physicians are generally reserved people, wanting to come to their own conclusions and observe, learn, and may not feel 100% comfortable being the source of entertainment for their colleagues to admire.

So, why spend the money on developing the special app for the amazing 70-inch screen? 

Good question. 

This is a case where the temptation of doing a sexy execution surpassed common sense. We were asking our customers to put themselves in an uncomfortable situation, thereby reinforcing to them that engagement with our brand isn't going to be comfortable. Not exactly the message we want to tell. And neither is an empty booth with no one engaging with your brand. Especially when it's 70-inches at a small show.

Sometimes the best solutions are not sexy. Are you developing programs and implementing projects that make sense? If you're only doing it because it looks sexy on paper, but aren't thinking about the practicality of it, maybe you should think again. And if those sexy ideas are from your agency, consider this: 

"Beware of butchers who recommend meat and fish mongers who recommend fish."