A Simple Approach to Evaluating and Providing Feedback on Creative
There is a right way and a wrong way to evaluate creative. Maybe you know that and have been struggling with it? Quite possibly you’ve never been asked to evaluate creative or share your feedback. Now is your chance to learn how to properly evaluate creative.
The right way to evaluate creative can lead to a strong, productive partnership with your agency. You need to keep the agency – more specifically – the creative team motivated to do their best creative work. When evaluating the creative, treat the agency team as an equal partner and give them honest feedback. Empower them to produce great creative that solves your marketing challenge. Ultimately, both you and the agency want the same thing - great work that drives business results as well as creative that you can proudly add to your portfolio.
Keep in mind that evaluating creative is not easy. Occasionally, a creative concept is so fantastic that a bright light shines down from the heavens and angels sing the praises of the advertising miracle before you. It could happen…you’ve worked hard to arm the creative team with a brilliant creative strategy. However, the reality is that ‘advertising miracles’ rarely happen.
First, be aware of your “voice of corporate reality” which can influence your evaluation of the creative concepts. You become overly pragmatic and calculating, trying to anticipate what your manager or manager’s boss will think about the creative. Worse yet, you even try to guess what your company’s lawyers will think about the creative. The “voice of corporate reality” is important, but it shouldn’t overshadow the fundamental strategic questions (more on this in a second).
Second, be mindful of the number of people that you have reviewing the creative. The more people that participate in reviewing the creative, the more difficult it is to get great creative. Creative by committee generally leads to ineffective, homogenized advertising.
The following is a simple approach to evaluating creative and providing the agency with feedback in an organized and consistent manner:
Step 1 - The Creative Concept Presentation: Always start a creative presentation by reviewing the creative strategy (i.e. creative brief). The creative strategy not only provides inspiration to the creative team, it also provides the objective criteria for the people who are evaluating the creative.
Make sure one of the creative team is presenting the concepts (avoid account people presenting someone else’s work). Set this up in advance of the meeting and insist that the agency honor this request. It’s also important that you let the agency present all of their concepts before providing any feedback. Finally, make sure that the creative team presents a recommendation and the rationale supporting their recommendation.
Step 2 – Understanding the Creative Concepts: Once the agency has presented all of their creative concepts and provided you with their recommendation, be sure to spend 30 seconds to ask yourself these two questions and ensure that you understand the advertising creative before starting your evaluation:
· Do you understand the agency’s recommendation? The agency should provide a single recommendation with clear rationale. Don’t let them hedge their bets and recommend multiple concepts. If you don’t feel like there is a single recommendation or solid rationale, ask clarifying questions.
· Does the creative concept make sense to you? Can you follow the story and do you understand the role of the product? If the creative is not abundantly clear and the takeaway obvious, imagine how the target audience will struggle understanding.
Step 3 – Evaluating the Creative: Let me start by encouraging you to take your time to thoughtfully evaluate the creative. Avoid immediately going into rapid fire feedback mode. Re-review the creative strategy and then ask yourself these questions:
· How do you feel about the advertising? Before evaluating the advertising, what is your “gut” reaction? How would you react as a customer?
· Is the advertising “on strategy”? If the strategy is clear and decisive, this question can be easily answered.
· What is your reaction to the key executional elements in the advertising? The three elements that deserve your primary attention are the headline (or selling line), end-result benefit visualization (visual), and dramatic effect (overall impact).
· Beyond the fundamental issues raised above, are there any more detailed comments which need to be made at this time? Be especially selective with any comments in this area.
TIP: Build 5-10 minutes for ‘evaluation’ into the meeting agenda. Remind people that evaluating is not providing feedback
Step 4 – Communicating Creative Feedback: The objective is to communicate your evaluation of the creative concepts to the agency in a clear and constructive fashion. Always start with the positive and be appreciative. You want to encourage the creative team to do their best work – so be respectful when evaluating their craftwork. Put yourself in their place and consider how you’d feel if someone thoughtlessly criticizes something you’ve created. Would you be motivated to do your best work for that person? Not likely…
Make sure to organize your comments. As a rule of thumb, the first person to provide their comments should take at least 5 minutes to think through their feedback. Test each comment in your mind to make certain it is necessary and constructive.
· Start by providing the agency your overall evaluation of the advertisingand tell them whether you agree or disagree with their recommendation.
· Deliver your specific comments for each creative concept, making sure the agency understands how strongly you feel about each comment. Tell them specifically what you like (and why); as well as what you don’t like (and why). Focus on any strategic issues, issues with the headline or story being communicated, issues with the visual, and/or any issues that affect the overall clarity and impact of the creative.
TIP: Avoid saving comments for later or implying that you have many additional comments which you will communicate at a later date – this just results in anxiety and longer turnaround times. Don’t hide behind email when providing negative feedback – provide it in person. This will keep you honest and constructive in your feedback and allow the agency to discuss as they may have some input to your comments you didn’t consider. Limit the habit of providing post-presentation comments and nominate one person to send these comments to the agency.
Bonus - Best Practice for Providing Feedback: This is a best practice that I learned over the last year. It really does result in a stronger creative dialogue and the selection of the best creative. Give it a try… it really works!
· The HIPPO Challenge: In the majority of creative presentation I’ve attended, everyone automatically defers to the most senior person or HIPPO (aka - the Highest Paid Person in the room) to provide their feedback first. Once the HIPPO shares their opinion, participants typically transform into a bunch of ‘yes men’ –effectively eliminating any dialogue on the creative concepts.
· Solving for the HIPPO: When providing creative feedback to the agency, always start with the most junior person in the room and work up through to the most senior person. This provides junior team members with the opportunity to learn how to evaluate and communicate their thoughts and feedback to the agency. Additionally, it allows them to participate in a discussion even if there is supporting or dissenting opinions from other team members. This best practice should be reinforced by the Leadership at the beginning of the meeting.
Finally, remember that the best advertising creative is a blend of art and science (with a dash of voodoo). Effectively evaluating creative requires that you to trust in your knowledge of the customer (i.e. great creative strategy), listen to your gut instinct, and be open to taking some risks. It’s also a learned practice – you will get better at evaluating creative and providing feedback each time you do it.
Keith’s Recommended Wine Pairing: It’s been a few weeks since my last post… vacation, soccer tournaments, and a job search have all interfered with my writing. As September nights turn slightly chilly, a bold red blend like Scarborough The Rebel Red 2009 definitely warms your soul. Scarborough Rebel Red is described by Northwest-Wine.com as “a big, burly red with earthy black cherry, blackberry and black currant scent and flavor.” Personally, I know it as an in your face red that goes well with a burgers, bonfires, and Friday nights. Enjoy it for $15 a bottle. Learn more at http://scarboroughwines.com/wines.htm