A Creative Blueprint. Part 3.

Rejoice in this moment as we air part 3 of our tried and tested Creative Process. We’ve covered understanding, planning, writing and ideation, so now let’s present our ideas and ready ourselves for feedback.

PRESENTING

Our aim is to introduce our proposed creative as efficiently as possible. We need to demonstrate care, avoid errors and show off our hard work. All clients are different, so we’ll ask how they want to review our initial response. Some are happy with a rough visual scamp alongside a mood board, others prefer a bit more polish to fully understand the idea. Either way, we’ll only present budget-friendly solutions, options we’ve fully researched and cross-checked against the original brief.

We’ll add more value where we think suitable; we like to use our initiative to suggest alternatives that may not have been considered – these might save time and expense and our insight is often why our services are sought to begin with.

Presenting is easier face-to-face (even if it is via Teams) so we can gauge initial reactions, talk things through and answer questions. We’ll prepare a deck with clear rationale, concise notes and contextualised visuals – it’s about making things easy to understand.

One thing we try to avoid at this stage is a big ‘ta-dah’ moment. We want our clients to be involved in the creative process; beavering away for weeks without communication, building up to a grand ceremonial unveiling runs the risk of embarrassment if the client isn’t on the same page. Granted, we love to surprise and delight but we’re more likely to achieve that if we guide viewers through our thought process and idea development, referencing the brief as we go.

FEEDBACK

How people deal with feedback has a big effect on progress. We see negative responses as a positive. We’re not deluded, we just see it as another opportunity. It means we get to hone alternatives and we can learn from mistakes. Sometimes, we’ve answered perfectly which has led to a change in the brief, and our work has highlighted the need for change. Sometimes we challenge the feedback. We’re not precious but we feel a responsibility for the success or failure of a project. Ultimately, it’s the client’s decision but we wouldn’t be doing our job if we didn’t offer our opinion.

Positive feedback triggers the ‘party-time’ button, and we all get drunk. OK, we don’t always get drunk, but we do always share the love and spread the endorphins around the agency. You see, us creatives couldn’t do any work without our accounts being maintained, or our Client Partners lending their ears. Our success stems from being a team and working together.

What we’re all working towards is the heavenly green ‘APPROVED’ notification from our online proofing platform. This means we can move into production and part 4 of the Acuity Creative Blueprint.

You can see our creative process in action in our latest case studies. And if you like what you see and hear, get in touch with Peter Cronin or Mike Darvill today. Alternatively, schedule a FREE discovery call here, it could be the best decision you ever make.