Grace: Welcome to Gossip With Grace. I'm Grace. It's time to gossip. Big news this weekend. Casual Friday's co-star Krista Roberts decides to ditch her signature long waves, in favor of a shorter, some might say, even sassier hairstyle. This leaves some of us wondering, "What exactly were her motives behind this big cut?" Krista claims the new look isn't for a new hosting gig, saying quote, "I really don't understand why you're asking me about this. It's just a freaking haircut." Seems fishy. I asked our show's producer, and he says he has a backup host on standby.
Krista: Oh, I am not going anywhere.
Grace: Sorry Frank, she's here.
Frank: It's okay, Grace. I fart in your office while they're filming.
Jillian: Why are we here? What's our purpose? Does what we do even really matter?
Krista: Jillian, it's okay. Shh. I think maybe your hormones, they're doing it again.
Jillian: Okay. Seriously though. How do we know that our creative work actually works?
Krista: Funny you ask, because that's the topic of this week's episode. Measuring creative risk. Back in 2015, we saw a presentation on creative risk by Wistia's CEO Chris Savage. Wistia brought in a big data team to analyze all 1,000 videos they'd ever launched, and do you know what they found?
Jillian: Yeah, I know, but I don't think they do.
Krista: Of the people who watched their weirdest videos, 70% of them viewed a second video. That made it two to three times more successful than all the videos they had ever created.
Jillian: Those numbers inspired us to measure our own creative risks on ourselves. That's kind of what this whole video series is about. We hoped once we showed our clients exactly how and why taking creative risks pay off, they'd be more willing to let us push the bar on their work.
Krista: Measuring creative risk is easier said than done. We learned that when evaluating season two of Casual Fridays. We determined that the best way to evaluate performance was by creating two scales: one for risk, one for performance, and then comparing them.
Jillian: We ranked each episode's risk by measuring seven obscure categories, like how often a script had a curse word
Krista: Geez, what a turd.
Jillian: Or weird joke.
Frank: This is all I've ever wanted. Just the skin.
Jillian: And on the data side, we were able to look at views, interactions, reach, and other factors that ranked each episode's performance. Then we plotted the scales on a graph.
Austin Powers: Nerd alert.
Krista: Well, let's take a look. As you can see, the scales are pretty damn close. And we'd say, it's fair to assume that this correlation means something. The data is right there. People interacted with the episodes with the weirdest storylines. What? Oh, I'm floating, aren't I?
Jillian: With the amount of messages we're all bombarded with every day, creativity is more important than ever. But when's the last time you checked to see if that creativity was actually working?
Krista: Well, when it comes to measuring creative risk, your first step should be to create a system. Sit down, determine what it is you're trying to figure out, then devise a plan that effectively measures those goals.
Jillian: Your second step should be the testing. This is hardest part. In theory, it's always easier to plan something risky than it is to actually execute it. Just stick with it, and trust your weird, creative little gut. It's an experiment, so it's okay if you fail. A little.
Krista: Once you've measured your risk, you have to evaluate your results and learn from that data. Now, this may mean realizing it was a success, or it could mean that you have to start right back at the drawing board. Either way, you'll learn something new about your brand or yourself as a creative.
Jillian: Are you measuring your creative risk? We would love to hear about what does or doesn't work for you. Send us a message or slide into our DMs on your Twitter machine @QuinlanCompany.
Krista: What? Do you even use Twitter?
Jillian: Yeah, I have an arm. Or hand. I have a handle. I have a handle. I don't know, let's wrap this up.
Frank: Did someone say risky business? Keep it casual
Episode 5 - Measuring Creative Risk
With the amount of messages we're all bombarded with everyday, creativity is more important than ever. But when's the last time you checked to see if that creativity was actually working?
We started asking that very question. That's why we took it upon ourselves to measure our own creativity with - you guessed it - Casual Fridays. In this episode, we're breaking down our episode analytics, showing you how we quantified creativity and providing you with that bi-weekly dose of agency gossip we know you love.
Brace yourselves. Things are about to get… risky.