The Creative Lead Playbook
Welcome the Creative Lead Playbook. My name is Cathy Davenport Lee. I’m a product design and creative marketing leader who’s been in the digital industry for over 15 years.
I’m here to tell you all the stuff you DIDN’T learn in school, so you can navigate the politics, get buy-in more quickly AND become the creative lead you’ve always dreamed of being.
Whether you’re just starting out, making a transition, or just looking for some support along your journey, this podcast is here to help. Listen on to find out more.
And don’t forget to sign up for Lunchbox Notes, my free advice and encouragement letter for creatives looking to thrive. Let’s reignite your creative journey—together.
The Creative Lead Playbook
Leveraging Precedence: Getting Greenlit, Pt. 2
Back again with another installment in getting your work approved. Today I want to discuss the importance of leveraging precedence.
Because you can't effectively guide your client into green-lighting a new creative direction if you don't understand and don't have respect for where they've been.
It's kind of like knowing how to do traditional photography, even if 99% of the time you just do the same kind of effect with Facetune or Photoshop.
Listen on to hear more.
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I’m Cathy Davenport Lee, and I hope today’s episode leaves you feeling inspired and ready to push the boundaries of your creative career.
Don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review, and sign up for Lunchbox Notes—my free encouragement and advice letter for creatives. Stay connected for more insights, tools, and resources to help you thrive. Until next time, keep creating, keep pushing, and let’s move this industry forward together.
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Last week, I talked about how important it is to learn the skill of getting your work approved.
I want to dig a little deeper into this topic today. Specifically, I want to discuss the importance of leveraging precedence when you are working a project.
Another way of saying this is that you must build a "bridge to approval" so that you can walk your client over it.
Clients aren’t apt to take non-sequitur leaps to a new concept. This is not because they are stubborn. It is because most of us, as humans, tend towards being risk-adverse. If we see something that at first glance bears no relationship to the idea we had in our head of how it was supposed to be, our negativity bias kicks in — and we auto-reject it.
Our brains evolved to defend against predators and prioritize self-preservation. This was an incredibly useful instinct at one point.
So, as the creative person trying to get a concept approved, what do you do about this?
...You build a bridge with a few "in-between" steps to show your client how to get to the place you want to go.
These in-between steps can be big, medium or teeny-tiny.
Here's some general guidance on how to build your own “bridge of approval.”
- Gather information about what already exists — and WHY it exists, when you are proposing some new piece of creative. Start at the current thinking and show a few in-between steps before you get to your favorite option.
- Hold gratitude and respect for the effort that went into what came before, even if you don’t particularly like it and think it ought to be changed.
- Your client may not want to go all the way across the bridge. They may want to stop at the second or third step. This is another reason that showing those steps is important.
- Thirdly, treat everyone you present your work to as if they are your client. Your team. Your manager. Their manager. The agency rep who’s sub-contracting the project to your company. The brand rep who hired the agency. They are ALL your clients when it comes to getting buy-in. Build bridges for ALL of them.
- Be in the habit of doing this even when (and sometimes ESPECIALLY when) the work seems insignificant to you.
- When you are updating branding, be thoughtful about what you change…don’t make “random” changes without explanation. It can convey carelessness or indecisiveness even when you were trying to be intentional.