Why ‘Channel-First’ Thinking Is Killing Creative

Last week one of our clients got a call, ‘we've got 3 airport screens available over the summer holidays for ad space, do you want in?’  (of course their answer was a big, fat, YES)

Cue the phonecall, ‘can we get some creative’ - My first question of course was - when’s the deadline? 

3 hours, yes you heard me correctly - THREE hours.

We got it done (obviously 💅🏻) - but it got me thinking, in way too many boardrooms, this is how some brands manage their annual marketing strategy. 

“We need something for TikTok.”
 “Just make a few short versions for Meta.”
 “Can we get a LinkedIn carousel for this?”

And just like that, creativity becomes a by-product of the media plan.

This is channel-first thinking, and if we’re not careful, it's going to replace the kind of work that actually moves people, builds brands, and drives long-term growth.

Channel-First thinking looks like this:

• Creative built to fit specs, not to tell a story
• Ideas watered down to be “platform/product agnostic”
• Brand distinctiveness getting lost
• “Engagement” being confused with effectiveness

It’s efficient. But it rarely makes anyone feel anything. Can the audience tell that we were on a tight deadline, did they notice that there's no story? Probably not. Will it still make sales, sure. 

But did it make the brand memorable? did it amplify our brand/products/message in the way it could have? No. 

Great creative doesn’t just fit a channel. It grows there. 

The best campaigns aren’t usually born from a last minute media placement deal - they started with a story, an insight, a bold idea. An idea that earned its way across platforms by being genuinely good, not just sized correctly.

Think about the work that cuts through. The stuff that gets shared, screenshotted, talked about.

It didn’t come from asking, “What’s the TikTok angle?” It came from asking, 'what does it make people feel?’

The real problem is planning backwards

When the media plan dictates the creative, we end up reverse-engineering ideas to fit timelines, placements, and formats.

 Instead, we should always; 

1. Start with the Idea
    What’s the thing we want people to remember, feel, repeat, or do?
    
2.  Shape It for Each Channel
    How does that idea work for TikTok vs LinkedIn vs email vs paid display? If it doesn’t, don’t do it. 
    
3.  Layer in the Data
    What content actually works where? What needs testing? What can be left out?
    

The order matters. Because ideas that were born to perform on specific channels, perform better within them. Rather than a box-ticking exercise because someone decided it also needed to be on LinkedIn. 

What Brands Should Be Asking

• Are we starting with a message, or a media plan?
• Are our creative teams briefed on a big idea - or just the formats we’ve bought?
• Do we want to be remembered, or just visible?

Final Thought

I’m not bashing last minute placements, they’re needed in this game for visibility and ROI, and I'm absolutely not anti-channel.

I'm just pro-creative.

When you lead with placements instead of purpose, you get content - Not campaigns. Both have their place in advertising, we just need to be careful that one doesn’t replace the other.