Creative feedback? Art? Science? Neither? Both?

There is a famed, and probably apocryphal, story that went around the London ad world for a while.

It was known by various names: The Greatest Creative Presentation of All Time, A Lesson in Being an Awesome Client, and Whoa, Did That Really Just Happen?

As is the way with such stories, I heard it from a friend of a friend of a colleague who overheard it in a Soho pub on a Friday night.

Here it is:

The Creative is unveiling a brand-new campaign to the CMO of a large telecoms company that I won’t name here but the name is somewhere between Red and Yellow and doesn’t rhyme with much.

The dog and pony show ends. The Creative glances at The CMO for approval or at least a wry smile. He doesn’t get it. What he’s confronted with instead is furrowed brows and what could charitably be called a scowl.

"I'm doomed," thinks The Creative, mentally packing up the meagre possessions on his deck and joining the ranks of the unemployed and unemployable.

"Personally, I hate it," says The CMO.

"I'm doubly doomed," thinks The Creative.

"But I'm not the target audience," The CMO continues. "I honestly believe it will resonate with them. They’ll like it. What’s it going to take to get it done?”.

One stiff drink and a pair of clean trousers later and The Creative is a very, very happy camper.

This is probably not a true story. In fact, the chance of it being true is about as slim as overhearing anything coherent in a Soho pub on a Friday night.

But let’s not let pesky facts get in the way.

Let’s marvel at the possibility that a client would give such amazing feedback. And not for the obvious reasons (everybody happy, work sold, customers acquired, etc.), but because The Client had done something remarkable: she had put himself in the consumers' shoes, saw the work through the consumers' eyes, and realized it was just the kind of work that could open up his consumers' wallets.

Why doesn’t this happen more often?

You know the last time I had a client say anything even vaguely similar to that? Never, that’s when. It doesn’t happen. It should happen. But it doesn’t.

So, that got me thinking, why the hell not? Why can’t more clients give feedback that’s helpful, feedback that moves the work forward, feedback that connects back to the brief, rather than a baloney that typically has agency personnel churning and questioning their career choices.

It’s something of a pastime in creative departments to bemoan client feedback. I’ve heard creatives one-upping each other: “You’ll never guess the dumb thing my client said…”, “That’s nothing. Get a load of what I heard the other day”, etc, etc.

Are clients really that bad?

‘Yes’ is the short answer. ‘No’ is the shorter one.

Of course, there are clients who still confuse branding with the size of the logo and insist that if only the logo were bigger the ad would somehow be a thousand times better.

Of course, there are clients who start sentences with things like ‘I’m not a copywriter/art director, but…” before going onto giving their take on copy or art direction.

And, of course, there are clients who about as articulate as a rancid apricot and fall back onto the ‘I don’t get it’ approach. But, in my experience at least, such unsophisticated clients are few and far between. If not as apocryphal as The Greatest Creative Presentation of All Time.

Clients often face pressures the agency never sees. They have a holistic view of life beyond advertising that might impact their feedback. And it’s not good enough for agency types to complain.

As agency types, we can help. As agency types, we should help.

I’ll start. If any clients (or junior account people for that matter) are reading this, here’s a little cheat sheet on things to avoid. I refer to them as the four types of unhelpful feedback.

1.??? Too prescriptive. Don’t give the solution, give the problem. Let your agency partners work out the best way to solve it. After all you’re paying them, and they do know a thing or two about creating great advertising.

2.??? Too vague. Offering feedback ‘change the color’ or ‘make the typeface feel more premium’ creates confusion and churn. There are millions of colors out there and millions of typefaces. Which would you like to feature? And how on earth would the agency know which you would like to feature? It’s throwing s**t at a wall and hoping it doesn’t stink. Time will be wasted, money will be wasted, and chances are the creatives will be too.

3.??? Too subjective. Here is where some may disagree, but does it really matter whether you The Client like it or 'get' it? After all, it’s the pre-identified target audience who needs to like it and get it. Try to channel the consumer and trust your agency to have unearthed the beliefs and desires and motivations of that consumer.

4.??? Too late. There will always be times when a product launch is delayed, or a competitor releases a product that shifts your marketing focus. But there are times when feedback comes so late in the process that it results in a return to the drawing board. Again, time, money, and creatives wasted. Securing consolidated feedback will help this. If the CMO or CEO is going to weigh in, get her feedback sooner than later, or there’ll be problems sooner than later.

But – and bear with me here, creatives, lest you think I’m being a turncoat – how the hell is a client supposed to know how to give feedback? Did anyone ever tell them? Train them? Of course not. Or unlikely at best.

The bad-creative-feedback bed is one agencies made for themselves. And unless they want to keep lying in it, it’s time they took the reins and actually helped their clients. Because better, more helpful, creative feedback will result in better work, better relationships, and a slight decline in rehab admissions.

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I’m Gary Fox-Robertson, and I approve this message.

I train clients and agencies on to give and receive creative feedback. Because it’s a two-way street, this creative evaluation lark.

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