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Marketoonist is the thought bubble of Tom Fishburne. Marketing cartoons, content marketing with a sense of humor, keynote speaking.

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criticism sandwich

April 5, 2008 4 Comments

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080407sandwich_3

I always struggle with giving creative feedback.  I can only imagine what’s it’s like to be a creative director and have your work (which is inherently personal) continually critiqued in front of you.  I guess you learn to grow really thick skin (or plug your ears discretely).

This last week, I gave a cartoon talk to 200 people at Unilever, and it was surreal to flip through my cartoons on a jumbo screen waiting for the audience to get the joke and start laughing.  Usually, I send out my cartoons alone and I’m not there when people get them.  So, it was a little nerve-wracking to be on a stage hoping (and praying) that people would start laughing (anyone, anyone, Bueller, Bueller).  A bit like that old dream of showing up to school without your clothes.  Anyway, that’s what I imagine it’s like to be a creative director in a client meeting.

So, I always try to dose my creative feedback to others with plenty of ego stroking.  An early manager of mine described it as a "criticism sandwich", which led to this cartoon. 

Filed Under: advertising, design

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4 Comments

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  1. Stephen Macklin says

    April 5, 2008 at 4:47 pm

    Here’s the best way to give feedback – skip the layers of praise. Any decent creative who has been around a while can separate themselves from their work.

    The only thing that really ticks me off is when a client starts tell me that they don’t like it. I don’t necessarily design to sell a product to the client. When they start telling me that, I challenge them to tell me how it doesn’t meet the business objective.

    I once had a marketing manager reviewing an ad target at teen girls tell me that he “didn’t get it.” I told him that was probably a good thing!

    Reply
  2. Josh says

    April 13, 2008 at 7:23 pm

    Tom – I like the praise – especially the genius bit…don’t stop.

    Reply
  3. JR says

    April 15, 2008 at 10:16 pm

    Wasn’t that also called a “shit sandwich”?

    Reply
  4. US fan says

    May 5, 2008 at 5:03 am

    Tom, I’m guessing that talk was at Unilever UK… many of us in our US offices have your cartoons posted in our cubes- keep them coming!

    Reply

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  • Paid licensing options include high resolution download.
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  • Looking for other licensing options? click here
  • View Cart
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