Giving creative feedback to creative work

Emily and Russell talk about "creative" not being a department but more a responsibility. One that we all share. Of course, this also includes clients.

One of the often overlooked creative challenges is providing feedback on creative work. And if you are involved in any type of creative process, then you know that everyone has to provide feedback ... your friends will ask you for your opinion, your colleagues will expect your input and your staff will EXPECT you to provide them with CONSTRUCTIVE responeses.

If you are on the client side, it can be difficult to provide the type of feedback that your agency would like. Clients are necessarily a step removed from the inner workings of an agency ... and no matter how inclusive or engaged you may feel with an agency, there are thousands of small creative decisions that are made in the development of a piece of work ... and client feedback or response to each of these is almost impossible ... until things start to come together.

So as I was considering all this, looking over some work today, I found this great post by Paul Colman. He has some excellent insight into the creative review process. So in a fit of inspiration, and channelling CK, I decided to turn this into a reviewing checklist and see how it works in practice.

Hope this is ok with you, Paul. Anyone who wants it can grab it below. Please share your additions with the rest of us!

S.

Download creative_review_checklist.doc

Comments

[diana]

excellent idea to deliver it like this, Gavin. Thank you !

[CK]

Gav: Oh so THAT's what that funny, if tingly, feeling was--you were channeling me :-).

You do so much for the community that if anyone channels, it's me. I assure you.

Between this great piece and the 12 core values that armano posted week before last I'm just brimming with best practices.

Thank you and Paul Colman as well. No wonder I tell so many people that THIS blog is required reading. You do so much for marketers by always shining the spotlight on everyone and then building on the ideas.

[Paul McEnany]

Gavin- Thanks so much for putting that together. It will be used, I promise you that. :)

Hope all is well!

[Paul Colman]

As I said on my blog Gavin - I'm happy to share, and glad someone finds it useful.

These were just some initial thoughts. I have another post planned around specific messaging feedback.

[Julia Dorofeeva]

Yes it's an interesting post, I like the discussion also)

When creating something new you get confused in the end cause you feel that you're far from the point at the end of your way. I suppose that's why a creator needs an estimation. Estimation doesn't mean neglect but finding something rational and attractive in the great idea that can be used in marketing.

It's like making a jug out of a piece of clay. Creator gets a piece of clay and together with estimator they make a wonderful jug for success ;)

[Gavin Heaton]

Thanks for all your comments, but really, it is all Paul's hard work and clever thinking! The trick actually is putting it all into practice -- and I find that checklists and templates like this really help.