It can be powerless to be an advertising agency. We are at the tail end of the business cycle and are usually at the mercy of the product or service we have been handed to sell. We do our damnedest to make these things as intriguing and compelling to consumers as we possibly can.

But we aren’t naïve. We know there is only so much we can do. If a product is deeply flawed there is no TV spot we can create or web site we can build that will make it a success in the market. In fact, if we do our job right, we can bring on that poor product’s failure faster and more spectacularly than if nothing had been done at all. As Mr. Ogilvy once said, “Nothing kills a bad product faster than good advertising.”

But every once in a while we get involved in the process early enough to do one of our very favorite things: prevent our clients from wasting a whole lot of money.

Recently this occurred as we led research on brand positioning, design and naming we had done to launch a new product. Virtually all of our creative work was very well received, but before we could start feeling all full of ourselves, one chilling thing became very clear very quickly: everyone hated the product.

So our recommendation was as difficult as it was inescapable. As hard as it was to throw out all that great work, it was a lot easier than throwing out wheelbarrow loads of our client’s money trying to pour marketing into a product that appeared to have no chance on the shelves.

They swallowed hard, wrote off the not-insignificant development costs, postponed the launch and we are now back at the drawing board with them determined to better define the opportunity we know is there.