Learn to Give Feedback or Flop

Jess Brown is one of Coven’s founders and the agency’s Chief Creative. Maybe you’re already using Claude or another AI agent to help dial in your feedback. If not, you’ve come to the right place. Follow along as Jess unpacks why good feedback is so hard and how to stop making it harder.

The creative process isn’t linear. It loops, it detours, and occasionally it surprises itself. When it goes off the rails, we’re quick to blame the usual suspects. A weak brief or a shaky strategy. Low budgets and tight timelines. The client’s lack of taste or the creative team’s lack of experience. 

And sure, those are real constraints. But more often than not, the real issue is less obvious and far more dangerous.

The culprit? Feedback. 

Or more specifically the lack of it. The vagueness of it. The kind that sounds helpful but leaves everyone guessing. Because unclear or misdirected feedback doesn’t just slow momentum—it muddies collaboration and sends the work sideways.

Why Feedback Feels So Damn Hard

Because it is.

Part delivery and part substance, good feedback requires clarity, vulnerability, and a willingness to say what you actually mean—three things most of us weren’t exactly trained to do in a conference room. Slack channels seem safer, but then you realize your comments have receipts.

Feedback also carries pressure. You don’t want to derail the work. You don’t want to offend. You don’t want to be wrong. The list goes on. So instead, we hedge. We soften. Or, my former faux pas, we overcompensate. And in trying to make feedback easier to hear, we accidentally make it harder to use.

The truth is that the best feedback makes the work better. Not safer. Not more agreeable. Better.

Feedback Doesn’t Just Apply to "Creative" Concepts

If you’ve ever written a brief or presented a strategy, internally or to an agency partner, and been met with zero questions or smiling silence—that’s not a good sign. It usually means one of two things: no one was listening, or no one knew where to start. Neither ends well. I’d bet a year’s worth of coffee that those nods of feigned approval came back to haunt you—whether you realized it or not.

Lastly, people assume feedback needs to be “constructive.” Sometimes the most valuable thing you can say is, “This nails it. Here’s why…” That’s not fluff. That’s alignment.

Typical Pitfalls And What To Do Instead

I’ve had the pleasure of working with clients who deliver feedback so well it not only improves the work, it also earns them genuine trust through their candor. I’ve also seen the opposite and everything in between.

The same goes for creatives. Many talented designers and writers can absorb feedback but struggle to make the leap to providing it. Especially when an idea objectively delivers on the brief but isn’t a path they would have taken.

Here are the most common ways feedback fails the process:

#1

Asking People to Read Minds

You know the feeling. Something’s off, but you can’t quite articulate it or you hesitate because the feedback feels too subjective. So you default to vague dissatisfaction and hope the next round magically fixes it. Spoiler—it won’t.

Even worse? The “I’ll know it when I see it” stance. That’s not feedback—it’s a moving target with no coordinates. And it does more damage than a few off-camera eye rolls.

What this mentality actually signals:

* You don’t love the work but don't know why
* You’re outsourcing clarity and avoiding accountability for your POV

And that’s how teams end up spinning.

🌟 Here’s what to do instead:

Say the uncomfortable part out loud. “Something here isn’t clicking for me, and I’m having trouble putting my finger on it.” That’s not weakness—it’s honesty. And it opens the door for collaboration instead of guesswork.

Then, if no one suggests it (especially on less experienced teams), ask for a working session with the creators to talk it through in real time. If clarity isn’t happening in your head, it’s definitely not happening in a bullet-point email. Let the people who made the work ask questions and help you unlock the feedback.

In my experience, this kind of conversation gets treated like a last resort—after frustration has already crept in on all sides. Why not skip the friction and start here?

#2

Hiding The Feedback within New Ideas

Instead of reacting to the work in front of you, you introduce an entirely new direction. This one’s sneaky, because it usually comes from a good place—curiosity, collaboration, and a desire to get it right together. Maybe you don’t want to be the bad guy, or you empathize with a team that worked hard but didn’t quite land it.

But here’s the problem. This approach leaves everything up for interpretation. Now the team has to decode how this new idea addresses what wasn’t working in the original. And just as importantly—how seriously to take it. 

Are these:

* Casual suggestions?
* Strategic pivots?
* Full-on directives?
* Even on-brief? (nothing erodes trust faster than this one)

No one knows. And when those questions do get asked, defenses tend to go up. So now the team is solving for multiple possibilities—none of which are clearly tied to what actually wasn’t working in the first place.

That ambiguity breeds hesitation. Hesitation breeds milquetoast. And milquetoast is never the goal.

🌟 What to do instead:

Anchor your ideas in a reaction and an example. “This direction feels too polished and polite for the audience…we need something with more edge. Something that makes people look twice. Liquid Death’s Small Ones campaign comes to mind.”

Now your “idea” becomes insight. Your reference becomes something the team can actually use.

#3

Overcompensating The Delivery: A Conflated Compliment Sandwich or Full Nuclear Meltdown

The compliment sandwich has its place, but in marketing, it rarely achieves the desired effect. You know the script: “Love the direction… just a few small things… overall it’s great!” Except the “small things” require a complete retooling. That’s not kindness—it’s confusion.

On the flip side, there’s feedback that turns simple revisions into catastrophic failures. The team walks away thinking they’ve missed something major. Surely that level of frustration must point to a bigger issue?

Whether you’re trying to avoid being the bad guy—or leaning into it a little too hard—both approaches dilute the feedback and derail the creative process. When praise and critique are emotionally tangled, the message gets lost. The team is left unsure what to protect and what to change.

🌟 What to do instead:

If it’s working, say why—clearly. If it’s not, say why—clearly. It’s not about cushioning the truth, it’s about making it usable.

If you need to deliver tough feedback, start by acknowledging the effort. A little appreciation goes a long way. It signals that you see the work and the people behind it. Then, be direct about the significance of your notes. Share the feedback, and move the work forward.

So What Does Good Feedback Actually Look Like?

👉 Start with the Brief
Anchor everything in the agreed-upon goal.

“This doesn’t feel like it’s hitting [audience insight / objective / tone] because…”

Now it’s not personal. It’s purposeful.

👉 Be Specific About the Problems
Vague feedback breeds vague solutions. Garbage in, garbage out, right?

“It feels off” isn’t helpful, but you know what is?

“The tone feels too formal for a campaign that’s meant to be playful and disruptive.”

👉 Share Reactions, Not Just Directives
You don’t need to have the answer, but you do need to describe the friction. Stay curious about the creator’s intent.

“I’m not sure this headline is landing emotionally—it feels a bit flat compared to the visual. Is that intentional?”

👉 Make Space for Dialogue
Feedback shouldn’t be a monologue. If something’s hard to articulate, that’s your cue to collaborate, not retreat or stand your ground.

Be ready for feedback on your feedback. Yes, that’s right. Maybe you thought you were being clear, but they have questions too. Good. Embrace it.

👉 Call Out What’s Working
Not as filler, as focus. When you identify what’s right, you give the team something to build on instead of second-guessing your approval.

The Bottom Line

Feedback is the essence of collaboration. It’s not a checkpoint. It’s not a formality.

It won’t always be easy. But it should be intentional and reciprocal. Because the goal isn’t to simply say something or leave your fingerprints on the final product. It’s to move the work forward, and feedback is the critical mechanism that turns good thinking into great work.

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