Creatives in advertising assume stuff all the time. We have to. In order to judge if an idea is going to work or not, we have to play it out in our heads. Are people going to engage with my banner? Will they share my viral video? Are people going to take the time to read my ad? If I use cat pictures, how much more attention I'm gonna get from the audience? We don't know. We have to guess it.

Although some scientific knowledge may influence our decisions, we're in the business of creating the new. And you can't read a research report about something that doesn't exist yet.

Here's the gist: a good creative assumes more correctly than a bad creative. It all comes down to nurturing a strong sensitivity to what's happening around us. The next step is to trust your guts and follow through with something you believe will succeed. I will write more about this important part of being creative in other posts in the future.

So, this is me exercising that "sensitivity". I'm going to create graphs that I think are correct. You'll find they make a lot of sense. But I guarantee you they have no scientific base whatsoever.

Here's the first one:

graph_quality_vs_time

I truly believe the more time you invest into an idea, the better it gets. But then, at some point, even if you work more on it, it does't seem to improve very much. And you start second guessing yourself.

You know when you keep saying a word over and over until it doesn't sound like a word anymore? Ideas can get to that point too. Over-thinking something can undo a lot of hard work.

If you feel you got to that point, stop. Either run with it, let it sit for a while, or ask for feedback from a boss or someone you trust. Don't waste time.

Let me know what you think in the comments. Do you agree with the graph? I think it's correct.

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