I do not need it now !

A few weeks back, a certain project was hot, ' I need it now ', WHEN CAN WE LAUNCH IT. Is the brief ready, is the communication ready, is the packaging ready........... Yes and everybody is charged up to get the entire package ready.

It is important to understand the seriousness of some of these projects, specially when it comes to packaging. The Implications are tremendous and and huge amount of work can get affected/ wasted.

The most important thing is to get the BRIEF into place, whoever needs to do it should do it irrespective of the urgency, as that reflects the first step towards seriousness of the project.

The issue comes in when everything is into place and suddenly the project is no longer so Hot. May be desirable but no longer urgent, hence nobody wants to stop the project completely but also do not have much time for it or want to focus on it or want to take a decision on it.

'I do not need it now ' is there in the mind and thus Packaging needs to work carefully.

Very often some great work can be put into abeyance or rejected or given a vague feedback and left into a complete whirlpool.

Given the urgency the Packaging team goes into top gear and gets everything ready with full excitement and the best that can be brought in. Now that the situation is somewhat nebulous, every presentation becomes an issue. ' I do not like this' can something more be done, can we explore with some more designers. Is this the best that we can have ?The fact remains that if the urgency of the project had stayed, the same designs would have looked brilliant , perhaps outstanding and would have gone into the market.

The issue that the Packaging development faces is the subjectivity in the Creative decision making. As somebody said ' A large part of decision making is emotional and a small part is rational'.

Perhaps the actually brilliant work now stands rejected or in a state of confusion, the worse thing being that our egos may not allow us to re-look at that work or even accept that work. ' I had a logic for rejecting it last time, why should I accept it now '.

How should the packaging development handle such a situation and not have some genuine good work wasted. One clear way is to keep you ears to the ground and have a picture of the shifting needs or the urgency. In case it appears to be the case, delay the presentation, keep working at it or re-prioritise it , but definitely not present it. Wait for the right signal, be sure that it is required and then progress it.

The other approach is to express clearly for a re - brief. It is indeed painful to re write the brief but incase the creative work is not liked, one should request for revised brief, as it brings in abundant clarity and also helps in removing subjectivity.

The reality is that the moods swing and the priorities change but the Packaging development team has to remain steady.