I have a love-hate relationship with case studies. I have read hundreds of them. Written dozens of them myself. They can be a great way to learn about new and innovative ideas.
However, I also think they can be a poison for creative thinking. Case studies are the fastest way to kill out of the box thinking and lead to mediocre work.
Here’s why. A good chunk of case studies are formatted the same with the same sort of results that do more to pad the brand, or more likely the agency’s, ego than anything else.
Here’s the standard case study format. Our creative team has this mediocre idea. We ran with it. We got x, y and z for it. It’s a pretty standard non-creative approach for describing a “creative concept.” Ironic, I know.
Let’s face it, most people are lazy. Instead of learning from these case studies, people just try to mimic these “successful campaigns.” That’s a real problem.
Reading and obsessing over case studies encourage everyone to think within the box. They see a cool thing another brand does and then try to repurpose it fit their niche. It’s an imitation. (Don’t believe me. Remember all the Old Spice viral spoofs?) it happens all the time. It’s the same idea done dozens of different ways. Guess what, the imitations never do as well as the original idea.
Instead of reading case study after case study, why don’t we instead focus on creating the most value we can.
That might mean we scrap the sexy augmented reality game that might look cool for a simple email marketing campaign that leads to five times the number of leads being generated for the business.
That’s the real reason why I think case studies are so detrimental. It so often favors the sexy shiny ideas over the scrappy time-insensitive ideas that will build a lasting foundation of success.
Do you read a lot of case studies? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comment section below.
