The operating system behind the world's most creatively effective brands.
At its heart is the Creative Ladder – your team’s unique shared language for briefing, discussing and judging creative work. Each rung describes a level of creative quality written in words your team actually uses and backed by proven marketing science.
“A key part of enabling a culture of creative effectiveness is a common language… This works in two ways. First, within the marketing team to create easily understood measures and secondly, outside the marketing team to communicate with the broader business.
This standardization will improve the chance of success...The question everyone needs to be able to answer is ‘what does good look like?’”
What does 'Good' look like?
In every other critical area of business — legal, finance, R&D, sales — there's a shared language that allows shared behaviours. But when it comes to creativity, a lack of shared language can make it feel like everyone is making it up as they go along.
As we struggle to find words that describe the non-verbal, buffeted by the winds of passionate advocacy and vehement condemnation, is it any wonder our reaction to creative discussions can be rooted in awkward insecurity as we expose our personal judgement to peers and bosses?
"Whose opinion wins? The boss's, usually."
With thanks to Jeremy Bullmore.
A common language for ambition… and the system to make it stick.
A common language for ambition...
Built bespoke
Every Creative Ladder is built for the organisation that uses it. Our Discovery process is where we align on the specific structure, design and language of yours.
Founded on proven science
What doesn’t change each time is the fundamental structure and direction of travel. Those are founded on the science of brand fame, proven by industry leaders like Les Binet, Peter Field and the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute.
The shape of a Creative Ladder
Often 10 rungs. Sometimes fewer.
Each rung has a description…
…written in the specific words that mean most to your team.
Specific definition
The words offer a nuanced language with which to articulate creative opinion
The numbers offer a simple way of tracking progress over time
...and the system to make it stick
We build the foundations.
- Create your bespoke Creative Ladder
- Write your Playbook for using it well
- Recruit internal changemakers to drive the shift
We make the change easy.
- Deliver live onboarding that turns the Playbook into everyday practice
- Design internal comms and merchandising that keep it front of mind
We facilitate the rituals that build the habit.
- Run your Creative Councils to debrief finished work
- Set up your Creative Brains Trusts to improve work in progress
How the Creative Ladder gets used every day
Before
In the brief. Be intentional about where you’re aiming. Not every brief deserves the extra resources it can take to hit the very top of the Creative Ladder.
During
In reviews of work in progress. Clearer, faster feedback that elevates the work. Used by everyone who briefs, buys or approves creative campaigns.
After
Use the Creative Ladder to review finished outputs, track progress and learn over time.
The Industry View
Expert practitioners
“Having a common language is key. We have something that we call the Creative Spectrum. It's one common language that we use everywhere in the world. So in spite of the culture, in spite of the geography, we can use the same language to rate and evaluate different pieces of work.”
“Each year, multiple creative council sessions are scheduled across all of our different regions. These involve the most senior marketing leaders of each region. And they are three hour interactive working sessions where internal and external work is analyzed through the lens of our Heineken creative ladder - our common language for creativity.”
“Heineken was hugely committed to the idea that creativity makes a massive difference, but while we were very committed we lacked a framework for delivering great creativity. So we were talking a lot about it, we were really trying, but the framework wasn’t there. We asked ourselves whether we could increase our batting average. You’re always going to get some right and some wrong, can we improve our chances of getting things right?”
The Heineken Creative Ladder has been featured in
Fast CompanyThe Case for Creativity by James HurmanIn Your Creative Element by Claire Bridges
A few questions we get asked
Will this work in my company?
Almost certainly. We've built Creative Ladder Systems for global CPG giants, a comms and reputation agency and an awards body. The shape is tailored to your business in a Discovery process - the proven system underneath is the same.
What if we already have a Brand Compass or equivalent?
The Creative Ladder sits alongside it. It's a shared language for judging creative work, not a strategy framework.
Can't AI do this for us now?
AI can give you a thousand options in seconds. It can't tell you which one is right for your brand, or give your team the confidence to back it. That takes judgement and taste, and those are the skills the Creative Ladder System builds.
Does this stop the most senior person overruling everyone else?
Not completely. The boss is still the boss, after all, right? But by having an agreed shared language of what Good looks like, it heavily minimises the impact of one person's subjective opinion versus what's right for the task.
Isn’t a Creative Council just a nice chat about the work?
It can be, and many are, which we know because some of our clients have come to us with just this problem. Our facilitation design and delivery puts psychological safety firmly at the centre to ensure the focus is on learning from, not celebrating, the work and then converting that discussion into action.