Strong creative ideas are driven by passion. However, getting to great ideas is hard. Let’s take a peek inside an ad agency working on a marketing brief. We see a team of creatives wrestling with a unique idea, countless internal reviews, interns pulling late nights to prep the deck, and a creative director fueling up on energy drinks to stay awake. Finally, it’s time to present to the client. The marketers put on their best poker faces, ready to tick all the boxes on their checklists (if they have one). The creative response to the brief is solid and is getting positive comments all around. Then, all eyes turn to the marketing leader, in charge of making the final call. She loves it. Sighs of relief. Smiles. Handshakes. The idea approval process seems to be going smoothly… until someone in the marketing team decides to share the ideas at home for feedback.
Sounds familiar?
Maybe it’s the wife, the husband, the eccentric cousin or just a friend. No matter who, personal opinion undermines the objective evaluation of ideas and the creative decision-making process. The BetterIdeas Project found that 84% of marketers and 89% of agencies agree that personal opinion plays a major role in decision-making.
Source: The BetterIdeas Project.
Here's why that’s a problem and how to avoid falling into the trap.
The gap between emotion and objective decision-making
We all aspire to create the next Old Spice "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like," Cadbury's "Gorilla," or Liquid Death campaign. Or to move people like the P&G spot "Thank You, Mom". Emotional advertising works - but can one person’s emotional reaction truly represent everyone?
Making objective decisions about what's best for the brief and brand should be the focus of every marketer. A marketing leader who says, “I don’t personally like it, but I believe it will work,” demonstrates a rare and valuable skill: separating subjective taste from strategic judgment. It’s not about what you like; it’s about what’s best for the brand that matters.
The question is, how do you get there?
Firstly, acknowledge that evaluating ideas is hard
Nike’s “Dream Crazy.” Apple’s “1984.” Wendy’s “Where’s the Beef?” All these legendary campaigns were met with internal resistance before launch - and understandably so. Evaluating creativity is tough. That’s exactly why it should be left to professionals.
Richard Huntington, CSO of Saatchi & Saatchi, puts it perfectly: "Evaluating ideas is hard; they are such intangible and delicate things, especially when they first see the light of day. It's important that we recognise how difficult it is and that this sense is shared openly between clients and agencies."
Secondly, install a shared creative language
Most brands lack a clear language around creativity and ideas. In its absence, confusion reigns and personal opinion takes over. So it's important for everyone involved with the brief to understand how ideas will be evaluated before the development of that idea starts and include it in the brief.
Best practice is to invest time in briefing your agencies as well as informing them on your plans, ambitions, NPD pipeline, and competitor activity. The most sophisticated marketing teams train their agencies on how the brand evaluates ideas. That shared language helps prevent misunderstandings and power struggles.
James Hurman, one of New Zealand’s leading voices on marketing effectiveness, describes one of his go-to approaches:
"One of the most effective things I do with clients and agencies is this. I get them in a room together for a day. I show them ten case studies of work that has won both Cannes Lions and major effectiveness awards. We watch the case-study videos. We look at the results. We talk about the strategy. We talk about why we think the work was so effective. Then, after all that, we split up into groups and we make lists of what we think characterises highly effective campaigns like those. These characteristics then become the evaluation criteria for the campaign that both the agency and the marketers bring to every creative presentation. Sharing the same ‘evaluation criteria’ or, as I put it, ‘what defines great work’ makes everything a million times easier."
Evaluation is a craft. Just like writing the brief
It's very easy for anyone to have an opinion about creative ideas. However, that doesn't make their opinion professional or the feedback constructive. Personal opinion is irrelevant. Best practice is to remove it. All that matters is which idea is best for the brand and brief. Evaluating ideas is challenging, and to achieve the best results, both the client and the advertising agency should share a common creative language. Use the brief to evaluate the ideas presented and define criteria to help identify the type of ideas your brand is looking for. If it’s not in the brief, it shouldn’t be on the scorecard. Clear criteria and a shared understanding lead to better outcomes, guaranteed.
So, unless your wife, husband or friend is a professional, feel free to ignore their well-intended advice.