A great Lands End ad ...?

Question

I have an idea for a great Lands End commercial. How can I submit this to the company?

Answer 1

If you submit an unsolicited concept, they are under no obligation to pay you or even give you credit.

You can try contacting their corporate marketing director with enough of a description to get them interested, but not give away the entire idea.

They probably work with outside agencies that handle various aspects of their marketing, so you may get referred to one of them.

A great idea is a great idea, no matter who comes up with it. You may get lucky and connect with an open-minded creative director.

Good luck.

Answer 2

There are a couple things that will probably mean you won't get anywhere with your idea.

First, any organization that advertises generally has an agency that is charged with developing advertising. They create ads based on the information provided by the client and then refine based on feedback. Anything outside that process probably has little chance of being considered.

Second, from a technical stand point you don't really have enough information to submit an ad for Lands End. Advertising (when it's good advertising) grows out of 1) and understanding of the brand and its positioning; 2) an understanding of the communications and business objectives of the client. Even if your idea seems great, you would have to present it in that context- and I doubt you have that information to back up your suggestion.

Finally, many companies won't even accept ideas for people or organizations unless they are solicited. Call it life in a lawsuit crazy country. They won't take the chance that you will sue them if they run with an idea that is similar to yours but may have come form an entirely different source (i.e they really didn't steal it from you- the people in charge may have never seen it).

That's the same reason you generally have to agree that the contest entry you send in (i.e photo of your family enjoying Lands End clothing) becomes the property of Lands End and you waive all rights. They don't want to fight with you later about the status of the photo, was it okay that they used it in an ad, etc.

So I would call your idea a good exercise in creativity. And if people think it's a good idea, maybe that's a sign you should work in advertising or marketing some day.

Answer 3

You don't. They probably hire an ad agency and pay them millions of dollars to come up with their own ads. The ads that they make have thousands of dollars of research behind it. If you think you want to get into making ads, try getting into copywriting... sorry.