Section 06

Evaluating the Creative

Evaluation frameworks, creative critique, and what makes good work.

44 pages

SOURCE: Dave Trott, “Creative Mischief” Why doesn’t most advertising work? It’s been debated, discussed, argued, briefed, researched, debriefed, re-briefed, …until it’s “right.” Because it’s “rig
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Checklist for evaluating creative 1. Come prepared 2. Expect to be surprised maybe even made a little nervous 3. React to the idea as a whole 4. Add what’s important and incremental 5. Make sure it’s
Checklist for evaluating creative 1. Come prepared 2. Expect to be surprised maybe even made a little nervous 3. React to the idea as a whole 4. Add what’s important and incremental 5. Make sure it’s on strategy, not on checklist 6. If it doesn’t connect emotionally, it doesn’t connect 7. Remember what the work is trying to accomplish 8. Don’t just talk about what’s not working for you 9. See problems? Don’t offer solutions, explain the problem 10.Remember you don’t have to find something wrong 11.A creative idea needs creative direction not group consensus. SOURCE: FCB, “Getting to what Matters”
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Ads are unwanted, so if you're going to crash the party, bring champagne.
People forget what you said. They don’t forget how you made them feel
what you say is not what they hear… Imagine a pilot comes on the intercom and announces “everything is fine”  It’s not about the message, it’s about the reaction
“Many ideas fail because they were appealing and the positive response was mistakenly assumed to be a good indicator of success.”
The more your idea challenges the way people behave, the more unreliable “liking” becomes.
The spikes and jagged edges differentiate your idea when you ask people what they think. In the world of asking, respondents rub away rough edges to make ideas easier to accept.
Are the parts of the idea they reject the parts that are going to stand out? Do they like my idea because it is familiar and similar to what they already know? Do they like my idea because it
Rather than worrying about whether or not people like our ideas, our goal should be to understand why people have responded in the way they have.
it should always be: NOTICABLE, MEMORABLE, IRREFUTABLE
it should always be: NOTICABLE, MEMORABLE, IRREFUTABLE
The name of the idea ~140 character description Key Visuals/Comps Key components/characters Netflix does a good job of summing up the idea behind the show in a compelling but clear way
Just move me dude. SOURCE: Dan Weiden
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It makes the lobster 10x better, but you shouldn’t be thinking about it before the lobster is plated, let alone cooked. LOBSTER BUTTER STUFF:
The goal of marketing, then —  especially as it pertains to things people would rather not pay attention to — is in making sure that the message taints the tastelessness of exist
An honest conversation with the creative team (Interviews with creative Directors about Strategists)
What well-meaning practice or habit is in fact frustrating? “Trying to fit too much into a strategy.” If you could tell strategists one thing anonymously, what would it be? “An insight is not a stra
What is one thing about working with a creative team that strategists should always keep in mind? “We can come up with the ideas, what we really need are great insights we could never uncover.” To y
How do you judge the quality of a brief? “The brief itself should be massively inspiring in terms of sharing new and unexpected information that creative “can build good work around.” If I'm scribbl
“Staying late & bringing your laptop next to a creative, even if to work on something else, always helps. It's the team mentality.” What's the one thing a strategist almost never thinks about that
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"Work with us not against us. Be collaborative. Be additive. Help us build on ideas and what’s working. Don't be cold and robotic. Translate the data you have into something human. Think
A letter for clients who like creative. From a creative who moonlit as a client —
There are no short cuts. There is no easy way. The right ideas are rare and impossible to imagine. The idea is conceived at any given moment. Sometimes the spark for an idea happens when a calendar
There are no short cuts. There is no easy way. The right ideas are rare and impossible to imagine. The idea is conceived at any given moment. Sometimes the spark for an idea happens when a calendar invite for a briefing comes through. Sometimes the idea happens 3 days before you’re presenting a different idea to a cmo. Sometimes it takes six minutes. Sometimes it takes six months. Most of the time it’s somewhere in between. There’s no rhyme or reason. No forcing or faking it. They come when they come. Good ideas are painfully simple. When we provide rounds and rounds of feedback asking them to change, we do just that, we change them. We dilute the message. Good ideas have heart. They require emotional investment. If the idea gets complicated. Kill it. If the goal posts move. Kill it. If you cant remember what it is or how it works. kill it. And, If it’s not exciting, or your nervous about sharing it or talking about it. murder it. To move forward with an idea is a commitment. That you believe in it. That you trust it. That you don’t want to change it. That you like it as it is. A good idea consumes you. It makes you protective, desperate to share it with those that get it. That understand what it will be. A good idea is bursting at the seams with an energy that’s magnetic. It’s confident. It’s humble. It holds its own. It’s not easy to choose an idea. To go all in. But, if you choose the idea. CHOOSE the idea don’t water it down — Defend it. Rationalize it. Make it work. Because it’s not complicated. It shouldn’t be. Solutions that change the idea are inevitably making it a different idea. If you believe in it. Believe in it. If it works. Let it work for you. Let it do it’s job. Do yours. Take the hard route of letting it live as it exists. Make it. And then Commit to doing it with integrity. There are no shortcuts. – Heather “McT” McTavish, Creative Director
“This feels borderline reckless… That’s when I knew we were onto something.” SOURCE: Entrepreneur, “Why MailChimp's Insane Fake Ad Campaign Paid Off”
SOURCE: Phil P. Barden, “Decoded: The Science Behind Why We Buy”
HOW CAN OUR WORK ALSO AIM TO GET CLIENTS PROMOTED?
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“You’re supposed to get in trouble, you’re supposed to get banned. Controversy is great. This is advertising. It Isn’t for shy people. If you want to be boring, go and fucking collect stamps”
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Use Log Lines to describe the idea simply One message, beautifully presented
Is it interesting? Like, Actually Interesting?
Once you’ve checked all the boxes, go back and make sure it makes sense as a whole… If you simply course correct for each individual piece of feedback, you’ll look up eventually and realize you’re
Keep in mind: People can’t agree with a great thought before it’s done. Because, if it’s a great thought, it breaks the rules. SOURCE: Dave Trott, “Creative Mischief”
it’s our job to excite people, not to try to herd them. SOURCE: Dave Trott, “Creative Mischief”
We can be outrageous to a purpose. That is great advertising. “We don’t do anything important like teachers, or nurses, or firemen. We just have a bit of fun and entertain people.” An ad should feel
“Real is good. Interesting is better.” –Stanley Kubrick
In a world of attention, the cardinal sin is DULLNESS DULLNESS SOURCE: Ben Shaw & Saskia Jones, “Media is killing social media”
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