Uncertain rewards can be more engaging than fixed ones.
More quotesDepth means death. Drowning is frightening. “Without” has yet to submit its emotional baggage.
This is how a three-word line gets tried by a jury of private associations. The brief leaves the room and everybody’s childhood wanders in. One executive rejects a name because it recalls a boy from school. Another says they would never click the headline, despite being thirty years older than the audience. A price is declared absurd by somebody whose buying situation bears no resemblance to the customer’s. The opinions are sincere. So are dreams about losing your teeth.
Creative judgement cannot be made objective by adding scoring columns until the spreadsheet resembles air-traffic control. Taste belongs in the decision. It simply needs a job. Does the line communicate the position? Is it distinctive? Can the intended audience understand and remember it? Which response is an observation worth investigating, and which person actually owns the decision?
Agree those things before showing the work. Afterwards, power rushes into the vacuum. “Depth makes me see death” can be useful evidence for a test; it is not a divine veto delivered through the publisher.
Without criteria, a pitch is not an evaluation. It is group therapy with a media budget.