Ads that don’t run, don’t matter. It’s not enough to have a great concept. You also need to be able to sell that concept to the client in order to get it produced. Having moved to the client side, I realize that an ad often dies, not because it wasn’t good, nor because the client is stupid. It may just be that it wasn’t set up to clearly articulate why it will be effective.

Here’s a list of 5 concise questions you should answer before going into any creative presentation. Use the answers to help build your case.

Why would this ad make the target audience pay attention and why would it matter to them?
What are they supposed to think after seeing or hearing this ad?
How does this make the product the hero and communicate the intended message?
How is this different than the competitors and why is it better than their tactics?
How did you address any mandatories? (If you didn’t follow all the mandatories, but had a good reason, that’s fine. Explain why.)

If you can’t answer them well, you know you have to keep working. If you have a solid case for all of these points and the client still doesn’t sign off, then screw them, they’re bad clients and their approvals will always be arbitrary anyway.