Why Is Feedback from Brands So…Stupid?

Here's real (hilarious) feedback we've received from brands:

• "Can you reshoot this with a different color shirt?"

• "You didn't synchronize your dance moves enough."

• "I know we said we wanted you to write this in your 'voice,' but we changed our mind."

Why do brands pull this stuff?

I want you to put on your empathy "hat" again (as heavy as it might feel by now).

Imagine you're a podcaster and hired a consultant to help promote your podcast.

You've spent years growing this podcast and have a profound connection with your audience.

You're also very sensitive about creative decisions related to your podcast.

So what would you do if that consultant created a promo that felt "off"?

You might not ask them to redo the whole thing, but you would likely ask for some tweaks.

Instead of a podcast, imagine you worked for a large brand with many different departments, each run by different managers with different motivations.

Every time you hire an external partner to promote your brand in any way, you must collect feedback from your boss, the VP of Marketing, the legal team, the public relations agency, and the paid media team.

There are corporate brand standards to uphold, you're reminded.

The messaging has to be extremely precise because the last time you partnered with someone influential they said something inaccurate, and your customer service lines were overwhelmed.

Oh, don't forget the legal exposure. Can't get sued. Your boss fails to tell you that this campaign needs to be finished in the next five days. You don't want to lose your job! You're hoping to get promoted this year and get a raise. So you ask the partner if they can submit the revisions within 24 hours so you can be a "hero" internally.

Whether right or wrong, stupid feedback is usually the result of dysfunctional company dynamics like this. It has nothing to do with you.

So suck it up and make the stupid revisions (they're paying you good money, after all)!

By the way, it's not just the brand's job to send you feedback.

It's your job to send the brand feedback if you think part of their conversion funnel is broken.