PART 2: The Art of Creative Critique

Let us continue our journey down the rabbit hole.

If you missed part 1 on visuals, read it here (https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/part-1-art-creative-critique-garett-awad/).

A QUICK REFRESHER: Creative critique is difficult and poorly done can create a long trail of advertising waste by increasing creative spin and decreasing emotional impact. But when done right, it can boost the effectiveness of advertising. And effective advertising can drive fame, feeling, and fluency - three things we know drive business growth. We should aim to deliver feedback with specificity and discernment. The more abstract and intangible the feedback the harder it is to understand.

This holds especially true with the amorphous Tone of Voice or Message.

#2: PERSONALITY & TONE OF VOICE

Personality & TOV are often neglected in brand management. Does anyone really believe that three words at the bottom of a page (e.g. witty, fun, loving) encapsulate the entire breadth of how the brand acts and sounds?

When done right, tone of voice (how we speak) and personality (how we act) can be powerful tools to critique work with consistency.

TONE OF VOICE:

The first rule of critiquing tone of voice is: You cannot critique tone of voice unless there's an agreed upon tone of voice. Start there.

Secondly, you need creative work to set the parameters of creative work. Meaning, use previous work or other creative to help set the guardrails for your creative teams. Trust me, it helps.

The third rule is: Be specific.

Let's talk about one that is often the most challenging to navigate: Humor. There's a wide range of humor. Slapstick, wry, sarcastic. "The tone of voice in this piece is sarcastic, whereas our brand is slapstick," is helpful, clear, and effective tone of voice feedback. "This isn't funny," is ambiguous, confusing and will cost you a lot of creative spin.

Here are a few examples of humor's range...

Slapstick humor:

Wry humor:

Sarcastic Humor:

Hyperbolic Humor:

Smart Humor:

KEY QUESTIONS:

• Is the creative work landing the right tone of voice for the brand or the subject matter being covered?
• What type of tone is the work utilizing, and how does it differ from the predetermined guidelines?
• Is this a moment in time you are willing to color outside the lines with tone?

PERSONALITY:

Is the brand acting like a challenger or an ally? A teacher or student? A caregiver or lover? Personality can guide how the brand addresses certain subjects that an audience is interested in. Not all brands are challengers, despite what people may think.

QUICK CAVEAT: Personality isn't always a necessary thing to lay out if tone of voice is written in such a way to encompass personality.

Harley Davidson typically plays the Outlaw. Outlaws chart their own course and turn their nose at the status quo.

Fortnite is a challenger, as conveyed cleverly through their recent ads and brand moves that gave the giant middle finger to Apple.

KEY QUESTIONS:

• Is the brand acting in a way that aligns with their values?
• Does the creative maintain the personality traits of a long term brand campaign?
• Is the brand staying true to their role in the category or culture?
• Does the personality of the creative work match the subject matter at hand?

#3: THE MESSAGE

Critiquing the message of the work comes closest to critiquing the underlying strategy. This is because the underlying message the creative work is delivering should be dictated by the strategic brief given to the creative teams.

A QUICK NUANCED POINT: Messages vs. Value Propositions

Before we get into the types of messages, I want to discuss a delicate dance between two parts of a strategy - value propositions vs. messages. Understanding this nuance should help you better deconstruct the underlying message in the creative work.

"Value propositions" and "messages" tend to be thrown around as interchangeable items. They are not. They play different roles in a brand's strategy and are built differently.

VALUE PROPOSITIONS: Is an identified pain reliever or gain creator that your product delivers to a specified customer. Value propositions taken together, in totality, define the culture of the product. These tend to remain the same over the lifespan of a product. (think long term brand building or what goes in a brand house)

MESSAGES: Is a customer facing idea that solves a problem. Value propositions should be used to develop a key message. The message is what a strategist puts on a brief for a creative team to creatively bring to life. Think concentric circles: Culture + Value Proposition = Message or Category Insight + Value Proposition = Message...etc.

This subtle nuance can inform how you think about brand management vs. campaign development. How one (campaigns) helps to maintain the other (brand management). When seeing creative work, make sure to critique the message and its formation.

IMPORTANT: If you find yourself critiquing the value proposition in the work, you should question the original brief you gave to the creative team to begin with.

MESSAGE TYPE:

Despite your best effort for the "insight" or "key message" to be the one thing the creative team takes away from your brief, the truth is, good briefs provide lots of jumping off points. A brilliant creative director once told me that sometimes they'll jump off the problem statement; other times from the strategic message. You can't control the creative spark. But it is your responsibility to keep a creative team anchored in what the consumer needs to hear.

To critique the message properly, it's important to understand the nuances between the different messages you can communicate.

Benefit-led message: On the surface this Beats ad feels fairly simple. But, its message is actually quite layered. (Beats often produces work with dual meanings, at the intersection of a human and product truth.)

• Layer 1: "Unleashed"is a benefit-led proposition. It tells consumers you can move freely while training.
• Layer 2: "Unleashed" is also an attitude that comes with being a high-performance athlete. Duality.
• Layer 3: Finally, the RTB (reason to believe) in this message is the wireless attribute of the head phone which is brought to life through a unique camera technique.

Another example of their dual meaning campaign can be seen in their "Hear what you want" spots.

Belief-led message: Belief led messages are most potent when they comment or critique universal truths or cultural tensions. They're typically brought to life through the voice of someone in that segment. In this Under Armour ad Michael Phelps validates the belief that in order to "rule yourself" you must put in the hours. Phelps sheer courageous willpower gives the message depth and the brand credibility.

Or in this Nike spot, they chose to use the voice of Serena to communicate what it takes to dream crazy. Serena's belief becomes Nike's belief, and Nike's Serena's.

Attitude-led Message: Attitude and belief-led messages are closely related, but there is an important nuance. While attitude often arises out of a belief, an attitude message really is marketing an emotional benefit or personality trait. In this KEZNO spot, we see Margaret Qualley break free from a restricted world, to let loose. There is a deeper commentary at play around structure and rule of order, but in general it delivers an attitude that is liberating and non-conformist.

Feature-led message: Many people conflate emotional benefits and emotion driving work. They are not the same. You can communicate highly functional messages with tremendous emotion. As an example this Apple ad is emotionally charged, yet communicates a feature-led message promoting its liquid displays.

KEY QUESTIONS:

• What type of message is the work communicating and is it the right type of message to resolve the consumer problem at hand?
• Is the message believable for your brand at hand?
• Does the message have proof points of substance baked into the narrative?
• Is the message simple and emotionally communicated?

The last thing I will say on messages is we know that the simpler a message is, singular in its focus, the easier it is for people to comprehend. So...keep it simple.

The Conclusion: Understanding how to decipher the specific tone of voice, if the work is portraying the right personality, or if the message being communicated is the right one to solve the problem can help to improve your creative critiques. As you start to understand their lovely nuances you will be able to critique with lightning focus and efficiency. BOOM!! Remember, specificity = happy creatives and happy creatives = happy work.

Thanks for reading part 2, the final part 3 (creative story elements, the medium, and the strategy) will be posted in the coming week.