I wrote recently about lackluster creative briefs as a leading cause of lackluster creative. Another common factor is the lackluster creative review.
How we run the process of reviewing creative directly impacts the result. Creative can be made stronger by the virtue of additional points of view. But we have to channel those points of view constructively. The path of least resistance in a creative project is to water everything down.
I overheard a handy maxim somewhere in my career that when reviewing creative “everyone has a voice, but not everyone should have a vote.”
Creative projects require an editor — someone who can sort between frequently contradictory feedback, listening to some, ignoring others, and making the final call.
I think we have to apply as much creative rigor to how we manage the creative review process as the creative itself.
Here are a few related cartoons I’ve drawn over the years:
“8 Types of Bad Creative Critics” (July 2015 and November 2006)
“Design by Committee” October 2017
“The Creative Review” July 2014
