Show me the Receipts
“Great creative happens when people care—about the brand, the craft, the outcome.”
Inside the Process that Empowers Bold Ideas
Let’s be honest—creative teams don’t churn out their best work when they’re micromanaged into oblivion. They don’t find their spark buried under layers of “Can we make the logo bigger?” feedback or endless revisions that dilute a bold idea into a corporate smoothie. No, great creative happens when you build a team that wants to win.
And as a Creative Director, my job isn’t just to approve work—it’s to create an environment where the best ideas rise to the top before they hit my inbox.
Step One: Make People Care
If your team is clocking in, cranking out assets like human printers, and clocking out, you’ve already lost. Great creative happens when people care—about the brand, the craft, the outcome. My job is to set the stakes. I make sure my team knows why we’re doing this:
“This isn’t just an email. This is the first conversation a future customer has with the brand. What are we saying?”
“This isn’t just a landing page. This is where someone decides if they trust us enough to click ‘buy.’ Let’s make it count.”
“This social campaign isn’t filler. It’s how we show up in the world. Is this how we want to be remembered?”
When creatives understand the impact of their work, they stop treating it like a task and start treating it like a mission. And that’s when the magic happens.
Step Two: Protect the Big Swings
I firmly believe in giving my team the space to take risks—because playing it safe never made anyone click, buy, or care. The best campaigns aren’t born from committee—they come from an environment where people feel safe enough to throw out a crazy idea without getting laughed out of the room.
So I create that space. I tell my team, “Give me one idea that scares you.” And then I fight for it.
And yeah, sometimes that means telling a client, “I know this feels bold, but trust us.” But isn’t that what they hired us for? If they just wanted more content, they’d use AI (no offense, ChatGPT). They come to us because they want work that moves people. And work that moves people never comes from “let’s just do what we did last time.”
Step Three: Show the Receipts
Nothing kills creative energy faster than the feeling like the work doesn’t matter. So, I make sure my team sees the impact of their work. I share the wins:
The “Fun with Emojis” video campaign delivered record-breaking engagement by tapping into trending content.
The creative risk we recommended to the client outperformed expectations, delivering 2X the industry average for brand recall and consideration intent.
A new channel we introduced exceeded campaign benchmarks by 3X, proving the value of trying something different.
When people see that their work works, they don’t just feel like designers, writers, or strategists—they feel like marketers. And that shift? That’s the difference between teams that create assets and teams that create results.
Step Four: Keep the Bar High (but the process fun)
Yes, we’re here to do great work. But great work doesn’t come from stress, burnout, or fear of getting yelled at. I set high expectations, but I also make sure we laugh in brainstorms, celebrate the weird ideas, and acknowledge that sometimes, the best creative solution is stepping away for five minutes to pet a dog.
Because here’s the truth: A creative team that feels valued, energized, and invested in the work is a creative team that wins. And when the team wins, the clients win. And when the clients win? Well, that’s why we’re here, isn’t it?
So yeah, my job isn’t just managing creative. It’s making sure the right creative gets made in the right environment—one where people are excited to push for the best idea in the room. And that? That’s how we get results that don’t just check a box—they make an impact.
Sara Winslow is Blue Duck Agency’s Creative Director, the lead behind the creative work you see from our team–and always thinking one concept ahead. Explore more of BDA’s work here.