Feedback Famine

Creative (Copy or Art) sends their work to their boss (CD or Group Head).?

“Hi, did you see it?”

“Yes.”

Awkward silence.

“Umm..”

“I don’t like it. It needs more work.”

“Right. Yes, what can I change?”

“Ummm.”

“Do you not like the colours?”

“No, it’s not that…”

“The typeface?”

“Well… no, I mean, you’ve used the brand font.”

“Umm…”

“You know, it’s just not there. You know what I mean?”

“Ummm…”

“You know what, try a few more options na. We’ll see.”

Writing is a journey that starts with narrative and ends with feelings

Seniority in the creative business is failing the industry. They aren’t or can’t give the young ones feedback. They’re hoping options will help mask their incompetence. And so, the junior is churning them out at will. Without feedback, a junior is dead on arrival. It’s literally the one thing they need a drip-feed of and the one thing they aren’t getting enough of.?

Broken Ladders?

It’s not very uncommon to hear that a junior / fresher is directly reporting to a CD. Very curiously, the middle rung is often absent or AWOL. If it is because people quit to start on their own, or marry (or divorce), or realise advertising is not for them, nobody knows. But whatever happened to people who actually bothered to groom, mentor, teach, labour over their young ones??

Pass It Along?

No wonder our ads look the way they do. Because, when presented to a client, the same thing repeats. Clients do not know / want to give feedback. They’re keeping it short and complex as ‘it’s not working’ or the classic ‘not on our brand’ and in a spiral we go. How do you give feedback when the file is sent on WhatsApp? The compression of the file is in direct proportion to the compression of standards.?

Truth is, giving feedback is an art. But taking it is too.

Perhaps, since the millennials are failing the Gen Zs, do the Gen Zs need to learn how to ask probing questions to extract the feedback?

Who knows. For now, I have to write another option for this.