Agency creative review: treating agent drafts like junior drafts
YH
Yara Haddad@cinderrow · Creative director
Our review process did not change when agents arrived; we just stopped being honest about it. A junior's first draft gets a conversation. An agent's first draft got a shrug and a rewrite.
We changed that in February. Every agent draft now gets the same note a junior would: what is working, what is not, what to try next. The note goes into the brief for the second pass. Second drafts went from 'start over' to 'usable' in about two weeks.
It is more work up front and less work by Friday. Curious whether other agencies do this or whether we are overthinking it.
4 REPLIESMD
Marcus Dell@tallowcanvas · Art director
We do a version of it. The note is one line. 'Too safe, push the colour' gets a different second draft than a silent rewrite.
IH
Ingrid Haas@veloursketch · Illustrator
As the person who sometimes receives agent-written briefs: yes, please. A note on what was wrong with the first one would save me a day.
EP
El picked up Gan@draftbedraggled · Design ops
We log the note as a field on the task so the next brief can read it. Over a quarter the notes are the real style guide.