udging advertising is something that we should leave to consumers as they are the ultimate ones that will truly recognize if good advertising has hit the mark and through it eventually choose your brand over a competitor brand. Judging creative Ideas is something that Marketeers need to manage and manage well as ideas are the fuel to brand building.
“Ideas are the fuel to brand building”
Through out my career having worked on different companies and industries i’ve seen and learned different ways to judge creative ideas from agencies. Today, I want to share what I consider the 4 essential rules to judging creative ideas: 1. Focus on Ideas that answer the Brief. The first step when judging creative ideas is to make sure they are within the scope of the brief. This will avoid iterations in terms of approvals, will keep you within certain predefined boundaries and will enable you to confidently grow equity. 2. Its ok to say no to an idea. If you get presented several potential ideas by an agency there is a good chance one or several ideas will not make your favorites. Know that it is perfectly fine to “kill ideas you are not comfortable with” In fact, well established agencies will appreciate sincerity at this stage. Some of the reasons you might discard an idea at this stage are (a) Not in brief (b) To narrow or with little potential to be extrapolated across touch points “Not enough legs” (c) Yes, using your gut feeling is allowed. You don’t have to always know why something just does not click.“kill ideas you are not comfortable with”
3. Be precise on how you want ideas to be presented to you: There is nothing more appealing than a well written script for a 60 s TV ad with U2 singing in the back and Morgan Freeman narrating. How ever, ideas should be simpler to explain if they are big and have potential. What I really like to be presented with is an array of executional options starting with the simplest but most complex expression, “A hand painted black and white print ad that brings the idea to life”. This form of expression forces the ideas to be truly big. If they pass this test, longer and flashier forms of execution will only improve the outcome.“A hand painted black and white print ad that brings the idea to life”
4. Potentially the most important step is this, I always ask my self these 4 simple questions to test if and why I feel comfortable with an idea: I also use them to structure my feedback to the agency. (a) Does the idea drive Desirability for your product. Knowing what you know about your consumer, do you feel the idea presented to you will ignite a sparkle towards your product in your consumer’s mind? (b) Does the idea Drive Equity: Will this idea take the brand from point A to point B? Will your consumer love your brand more after they get exposed to the execution of this idea? (c) Is the idea Distinctive enough: Does this idea create an AHA moment? Is it a new way to talk and disrupt the category? (d) Is the idea Decisive enough. When it comes to bringing big ideas to life, time after time i’ve seen that “less is more” so ask your self if the idea you see presented is as sharp as it could be, does it focus and drive understanding to your ONE key benefit?“ The 4 key questions to ask yourself: Desirability, Drive Equity, Distinctiveness & Decisiveness”
One last tip I’d like to give is to listen to all the feedback in the room before committing to push forward an idea: Use your team to get as much feedback on the table as possible, make sure you take your time and deliberate. Its ok yet, not always needed, to step out of the room with your team before you give the agency final feedback. Ask the agency which of the ideas they prefer and why. Make sure every one in the room speaks up, this will help new ways of looking at a single idea flourish and will train each individual in giving and receiving feedback.]]>