OPINIÓN- Pablo Miró at Zubi: What Can Advertising Learn From The Best Restaurants In The World?

It has been over a year since the World stopped due to Covid and our lives changed significantly. Although I’m not a huge restaurant connoisseur (aka “foodie”), I remember those days with a little bit of nostalgia.

And I guess it was probably that feeling of missing the experience of enjoying a great dinner at a great restaurant that caused me to think about the similarities between the Advertising business and the high-end gastronomical world.

And in thinking more deeply about it I didn’t only discover things in common, such as how both businesses are based on generating experiences and leveraging the power of creativity, but I also realized that maybe we, the Ad people, can probably learn something from this other important industry.

Following are a couple of “inspirational” points based on my observation of the Restaurant business. Hope they contribute positively to our business

• WHAT COMES OUT OF THE KITCHEN IS THE BACKBONE OF THE BUSINESS:

Restaurants tend to confuse themselves less than agencies in terms of where the focus of their business lies. They generally have a very clear perspective that the kitchen is the heart of their business and no matter how great the environment or the service can be, if the product that comes out of the kitchen is not up to standards, their business will surely suffer.

Agencies need to understand that the Creative product is the kitchen of our business and that although service and many other capabilities are important, ultimately clients are always looking indulge their costumers (and even themselves) with great ideas.

• DEEP KNOWLEDGE OF THE INGREDIENTS IS THE KEYS TO UNLEASH STRONG CREATIVITY:

Any great Chef knows that the secret towards creating mesmerizing dishes is based on having a deep understanding of the ingredients used. Knowing the levels of sweetness, acidity, textures, colors, etc. provides them with the necessary pallet to unleash their creativity.

When developing plates, Chef’s explore and evaluate all these alternatives. They “taste” their dishes over and over to ensure they achieve the best mix of flavors.

Only once every component of the dish has reached the proper levels desired, the plate will be put together and will then be served to the costumer.

In the Ad business this translates to deeply understanding the many components that are utilized when creating communication ideas. Our business needs to invest more time on analyzing our solutions before we share them with our clients.

The following is a list of basic Advertising components that require our full attention:

o Deep understanding of consumers: Knowing them as people, costumers and culturally. Identifying the right ones related to our brands objectives.

o Proper knowledge of the brand/product/service: What is it really about? What does it have to offer that is different? What’s its business and market context?

o Understanding of the Creative idea: One of the most challenging things and probably where our business fails the most.

o Knowledge of the channels: How can they benefit the essence of our idea, and how can they help distribute our message among the right audience?

• LEVERAGE THE POWER OF THE FRONT OF THE HOUSE:

In the Culinary world it is well known about the importance that the “Front of the house” has towards the success of any business. It is about having a perfectly set environment and ensuring that key members of the staff execute their duties to perfection. Because a restaurant can have the best Chef and cooks in the world, but often times, it will be work of a hostess or a waiter that will get costumers stirred from ordering a regular pasta dish towards ordering the “Award winning House dish, prepared with fresh grilled to perfection Maine Lobster, browned with Irish butter and drizzled with a signature sauce, paired with an Italian white wine” that will help customers enjoy one of their best meals ever.

In this sense, many times, it is the waiters understanding of the cooking process, his knowledge of the techniques and ingredients used, his ability to interact with the customers and understand what the best dishes will be to recommend that helps drive the success of the business.

The best restaurants ensure this by having periodical “Before service” briefing meetings between the kitchen and the front of the house staff. Everybody gets to taste and learn about all the details of the upcoming dishes.

In the Ad world, the Account team, acts as key components of this “Front of the House” analogy. It is key for agencies to ensure that they not only act by taking and bringing orders, but more importantly, by fully understanding the power of the Creative solutions that the team has developed towards the client’s business needs.

Agency teams also need to invest appropriate time between all their teams in order to ensure everybody has a perfect grasp on the power of the ideas that will go to the client and most importantly, a deep understanding from each of their specialty areas on how they will answer their business needs.

• SIMPLICITY OFTEN MAKES THE PLATE STRONGER:

Many times, some of the best tasting and successful dishes are a combination of just a few ingredients. A Caprese salad, a Sashimi or even French fries are a good example. Their simplicity leverages on the ingredient and is enhanced with small details that elevates their taste.

In Advertising, simplicity is also the key to any successful effort. Ensuring that ideas stay simple is often times a big challenge. Clients try to leverage their communication efforts as much as possible adding and adding different messages to their campaigns. This is the moment where we need to stop, look at our Creative idea and ensure we have kept its power alive.

• NO MATTER HOW GOOD THE RECIPE IS, THE ONGOING EXECUTION OF A DISH IS ULTIMATELY WHAT ESTABLISHES THE LEVEL OF ANY RESTAURANT.

The Food world knows very well that every plate needs to be perfect every time as there is no ground for error. It is about creativity with ingredients, skills in the kitchen and particularly about consistency of execution.

The advertising world in no different. An agency is simply as good as it’s last campaign on air. Today we can create an extremely successful campaign and we will be celebrating. But if tomorrow, our next campaign doesn’t not perform the way we and the business require, we will be suffering the consequences.
Consistency is the bid difference between great agencies and iconic agencies.

By
Pablo Miró
Vice President of Growth Marketing
Zubi