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courses
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GIVING
CREATIVE
FEEDBACK
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www.imarketing.courses

CREATED BY

JULIAN COLE KAREN FAITH DAVIS BALLARD

is a strategy consultant is an ethnographer and is a LA-based freelance
who works with brands empathy trainer who strategist who moonlights
and agencies to create coaches teams on as a music man at Rainbow
world class integrated connecting with their Jeremy FM and Parang
campaigns. customers and Recordings.
collaborators.
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www.imarketing.courses

BRIEF
Become a pro at delivering creative feedback
at the right time.
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HEAD HEART BODY

The three chronological steps to feedback

the head, heart and body of the idea.
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www.imarketing.courses

HEAD
What we’re trying to solve, who we’re talking to and
what we think we need to say to them.

This is figured out before we see creative ideas, it

informs the brief.
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www.imarketing.courses

HEART
The actual things we’re saying, how
and where we’re saying it

When we see creative ideas for the first time this

is the feedback we look to give.
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www.imarketing.courses

BODY
The specific the mechanics of how it works, the copy,
the visuals, the color, font, visuals

When we like an idea, we give this feedback once

we’ve bought off on an idea.
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www.imarketing.courses

CREATIVE FEEDBACK MODEL

HEADACHE What’s the problem
AUDIENCE Who’s the work for
INSIGHT What we know about them
STRATEGY How we plan to reach them

CONCEPT The creative idea

MEDIUM What channel we’re using
MESSAGE What’s the takeaway

CONTENT Creative details (style, voice

ECOSYSTEM and tone)
How it all works together
TYPOS, ERRORS &
Tiny, concrete problems
BUGS
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www.imarketing.courses

CREATIVE FEEDBACK MODEL

HEADACHE
AUDIENCE
Feedback at pre-ideas stage
INSIGHT
STRATEGY

CONCEPT Feedback when seeing ideas

MEDIUM for the first time
MESSAGE

CONTENT
Feedback when the idea
ECOSYSTEM
is bought and you’re in
TYPOS, ERRORS & production stage
BUGS
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www.imarketing.courses

EXAMPLE
SOUP X
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HEADACHE - Soup X is losing volume to other winter based foods
AUDIENCE - Snacking young consumers
INSIGHT - A bowl of soup warms both inside and out
STRATEGY - Own the double power of soup this winter
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EXAMPLE OF CREATIVE
To get millennials to buy soup this winter, we
need to remind them of the biggest benefit
soup has, it warms you both inside and out.

The Soup X heated site

For brand Soup X, we’re going to create a
mobile site that warms visitor’s hands when
they view it.

Now you play the client and give feedback to

this idea.
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www.imarketing.courses

HEAD LEVEL
FEEDBACK
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www.imarketing.courses

HEADACHE
The headache is a clear articulation of the
business/human problem. This is key to understanding
what the root of the idea is. Everyone needs to be
aligned pre-creative briefing.

Example Headache: Soup X is losing volume to other

winter based foods. People don’t think of soup as the
first option for a meal that warms me up.

Example of Headache Feedback:

● This idea is wrong because our real problem is
Soup X is actually losing share to other all
natural soup competitors.

This type of feedback requires a creative rebrief as all

work shown will be off brief.
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www.imarketing.courses

AUDIENCE
The audience gives you a clear idea of who you’re
trying to communicate with this work.

Example of Audience: Growth market of young snack

loving consumers.

Example of Audience Feedback:

● Our audience is retirees, I don’t think they will
use this. Soup X is looking to steal share from
competitors in the heavy soup buying target of
retirees.”

This type of feedback requires a creative rebrief as all

work shown will be off brief.
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www.imarketing.courses

INSIGHT
The insight unlocks the opportunity to succeed. This insight
works as it ownable against other winter foods.

Example Insight: Soup has the double power by warming

both inside and outside with the hot bowl.

Example of Insight Feedback:

● This insight does not tackle the biggest problem
which is Millennials see canned food as the poster
child of toxic.

This should have been mentioned pre-creative brief and will

require a complete rebrief of the work. As all work will be off
brief.
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www.imarketing.courses

STRATEGY
The Strategy takes the insight and makes an action
plan for how and what we communicate.

Example Strategy: Show our double power of soup

this winter.

Example of Strategy Feedback:

● If the goal was to introduce a new variety of
Chicken Pea Soup this winter or that “all
natural ingredients” was the messaging, then
this strategy would be completely wrong.
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www.imarketing.courses

Head level feedback requires a rebrief of work. This is

why we align on a creative brief prior to seeing work.
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HEART LEVEL
FEEDBACK
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The following three pieces should be

what you’re looking to give feedback
on in the first creative review.
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www.imarketing.courses
HEADACHE - Soup X is losing volume to other winter based foods
AUDIENCE - Snacking young consumers
INSIGHT - A bowl of soup warms both inside and out
STRATEGY - Own the double power of soup this winter

CONCEPT - Warm peoples hands when soup can’t

MEDIUM - Mobile phone site that warms up
MESSAGE - We’ll always keep you warm
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www.imarketing.courses

CONCEPT
The concept is the creative idea itself. Here, the
concept should be checked for alignment with
the brand, strategy, and audience insight.

Example Concept: Warm people’s hands when

the soup can’t.

Examples of Concept Feedback:

● We don’t think people need their hands
warmed during winter.
● This resonates with North American
audiences (due to climate), but could not
extend to the South American market until
their winter months (June, July, August).
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MEDIUM
The Medium is the channel through which we will
reach the audience. Here, we want to be sure the
medium makes sense for who we are trying to
reach and what we’re trying to do.

Example Medium: Mobile Site

Example of Medium feedback:

● Is this the best place that this idea could
come to life?
● What can a site achieve that an app
couldn't?
● What do we know about this audience's
engagement with mobile sites?
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www.imarketing.courses

MESSAGE
The message is the key takeaway from the
execution. Be sure this connects directly with the
strategy.

Example Message: We warm your hands when our

soup can’t.

Example of Message feedback:

● Do we think people will understand that this
is warming their hands like our soup?
● This doesn’t speak enough to both parts of
the warming inside and out.
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BODY LEVEL
FEEDBACK
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With concept, message and medium aligned. It’s

now into creative production feedback. It’s time to
shore things up with some solid editing.
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CONTENT
The content is the nuts and bolts of the execution.
Feedback here addresses the look and feel (color,
copy, photography, video treatment).

Note: This is when you should be bringing in the

brand’s style guide and making sure the content
aligns.

Example of Content feedback:

● Can we make the logo more prominent?
● Is this the official Soup X font?
● That red background makes it hard to see
our product. How might we make the
product more prominent?
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www.imarketing.courses

ECOSYSTEM
The ecosystem is the network of brand
touchpoints and audience experiences as a
whole. When examining this, ensure that the idea
lives harmoniously within the ecosystem of the
consumer and brand’s other work.

Examples of Ecosystem feedback:

● Do you have a user journey for what this
idea looks like?
● How will people find this execution? How can
we get people to share the site?
● How do we link this to what we are doing in
store?
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ERRORS, TYPOS, BUGS

At this level, we are dealing with misspellings,
factual errors, code bugs, color mismatches: are
all concrete things that are inarguable and
corrected without requiring sign off from anyone.

Example of Error-level feedback:

● Has this cleared legal?
● There are two typos on the landing page.
● The purchase link is broken.
● What is the risk that we blow up someone’s
phone?
● How can you assure me this is not going to
do that?
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www.imarketing.courses
HEADACHE - Soup X is losing volume to other winter based foods
AUDIENCE - Snacking young consumers
INSIGHT - A bowl of soup warms both inside and out
STRATEGY - Own the double power of soup this winter

CONCEPT - Warm peoples hands when soup can’t

MEDIUM - Mobile phone site that warms up
MESSAGE - We’ll always keep you warm

CONTENT - Mother looking out for you (cues of the warmth of a bowl of soup)
ECOSYSTEM - Roll out plan involves social ads and influencers
ERRORS - Force the CPU to process a large amount of code, causing the phone to heat up
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www.imarketing.courses

CHEATSHEET
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www.imarketing.courses

Next time you’re giving creative feedback, use

the cheat sheet to identify what level feedback
you’re giving.

This will make the creatives job much easier

when trying to address the feedback
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www.imarketing.courses

CREATIVE FEEDBACK MODEL

HEADACHE What’s the problem
AUDIENCE Who’s the work for
INSIGHT What we know about them
STRATEGY How we plan to reach them

CONCEPT The creative idea

MEDIUM What channel we’re using
MESSAGE What’s the takeaway

CONTENT Creative details (style, voice

ECOSYSTEM and tone)
How it all works together
TYPOS, ERRORS &
Tiny, concrete problems
BUGS
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www.imarketing.courses

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