Reports (Creative Strategy)
Reports help you turn creative intelligence into shareable, strategic documents. Whether you’re aligning stakeholders, presenting quarterly findings, or documenting post-launch learnings, Reports give you a structured format backed by data.Creative Directors use Reports for leadership updates, stakeholder alignment, and strategic reviews.
When to use a Report
Reports are perfect for: ✅ Leadership updates — Quarterly or monthly creative performance summaries✅ Stakeholder alignment — Getting buy-in on creative direction
✅ Competitive reviews — Sharing insights about the market landscape
✅ Post-launch reviews — Documenting what worked (or didn’t) and why
✅ Strategic planning — Grounding quarterly plans in data
Use Reports when your audience needs the “why” and the “so what” — not just the raw findings.
How to create a Report
1
Choose your starting point
You can create a Report in two ways:From existing insights:
- After running Discover, Diagnose, Forecast, or Monitor
- Click Save → Report
- Choose a template and add commentary
- Use the Strategy Report Chip in the Generate workflow
- Provide context and let Boa structure the report
- Fill in details and recommendations
Most teams create Reports from existing workflow results — it’s faster and ensures the report is grounded in data.
2
Select a template
Choose a template that matches your goal:
- Competitive Analysis — Summarize competitor creative strategies
- Creative Strategy Update — Quarterly or monthly performance review
- Post-Launch Review — Document campaign results and learnings
- Trend Report — Highlight emerging patterns and recommendations
- Custom — Build your own structure
3
Fill in the key sections
Reports typically include:1. Executive Summary
- 2-3 sentences summarizing the key finding or recommendation
- What decision-makers need to know upfront
- What’s working (themes, tones, structures)
- What’s not working (pitfalls, underperforming patterns)
- Visual examples and performance data
- How we compare to competitors
- How patterns have changed over time
- Market opportunities and threats
- Proposed actions (tests, campaigns, creative directions)
- Prioritization (quick wins vs longer-term bets)
- Success metrics and timelines
Example Report structure
Your Report is structured, complete, and ready to share.
4
Review, refine, and share
Before sharing:
- Check clarity — Can someone unfamiliar with Boa understand the findings?
- Add commentary — Provide your interpretation and point of view
- Include visuals — Screenshots, charts, or creative examples
- Propose clear next steps — What should the reader do with this information?
- Export as PDF
- Share link (if your team has access)
- Copy sections into presentations
- Integrate with your tools (Notion, Confluence, Google Docs)
What to include in great Reports
Executive Summary
Start with the headline insight or recommendation: Good examples:- “Fantasy RPG creatives using hero’s journey narratives outperform by 2.5x. We should prioritize this theme in Q4.”
- “Competitor A has shifted to fast-paced, CTA-forward creatives. Our slower, world-building approach is underperforming.”
- “Cozy puzzle themes are saturating. We recommend testing strategy/puzzle hybrids instead.”
- ❌ “We analyzed 500 creatives.” (so what?)
- ❌ “There are several interesting patterns.” (which ones? what should we do?)
Your executive summary should answer: “What did we learn?” and “What should we do about it?”
Key Patterns and Evidence
Show, don’t just tell:- Include visual examples — Screenshots or thumbnails of creatives
- Cite performance data — “Top 10% in genre,” “2x engagement vs baseline”
- Highlight patterns, not individual creatives — What’s consistent across multiple examples?
- What’s working — 3-5 patterns with examples
- What’s not working — 2-3 pitfalls to avoid
- What’s emerging — 1-2 trends worth watching
Context and Comparison
Help your audience understand the landscape:- Competitive context — How do we compare to [Competitor A, B, C]?
- Time-based context — How have patterns changed from Q2 to Q3?
- Market context — Are we ahead, behind, or aligned with the market?
Recommendations and Next Steps
Make your report actionable: For each recommendation:- What to do — Specific action (e.g., “Test hero’s journey narratives in next campaign”)
- Why — Rationale grounded in data (e.g., “Top performers use this theme 3x more than bottom performers”)
- How — Implementation guidance (e.g., “Use Creative Brief template with references from this report”)
- When — Timeline or priority (e.g., “Launch test by end of Q3”)
- Success metric — How you’ll know it worked (e.g., “Target 30% lift in engagement”)
Reports without clear next steps are just documentation. Always include actionable recommendations.
Report templates and when to use them
Competitive Analysis
Competitive Analysis
When to use: Quarterly competitive reviews, market entry planning, positioning workshopsWhat it includes:
- Competitor-by-competitor creative strategy summary
- Comparative performance (who’s winning and why)
- White space opportunities (what competitors aren’t doing)
- Recommendations for differentiation or fast-following
Creative Strategy Update
Creative Strategy Update
When to use: Monthly or quarterly leadership updates, team alignment meetingsWhat it includes:
- Summary of creative performance over the period
- Top-performing patterns and themes
- Changes from prior period
- Recommendations for next period
Post-Launch Review
Post-Launch Review
When to use: After campaign launches, A/B test results, post-mortemsWhat it includes:
- Campaign objectives and hypothesis
- What worked (performance drivers)
- What didn’t work (gaps vs benchmarks)
- Learnings and recommendations for iteration
Trend Report
Trend Report
When to use: Quarterly planning, innovation sprints, forward-looking strategyWhat it includes:
- Emerging trends (rising themes, tones, structures)
- Declining trends (what to avoid)
- Velocity and saturation metrics
- Recommendations for testing
Best practices
Do:
✅ Start with a clear executive summary✅ Include visual examples and performance data
✅ Provide context (competitive, temporal, market)
✅ End with specific, prioritized recommendations
✅ Add your commentary and point of view
Don’t:
❌ Dump raw data without interpretation❌ Skip visuals — they make reports scannable
❌ Forget to answer “so what?”
❌ Leave recommendations vague or generic
The best Reports tell a story: “Here’s what we learned → Here’s what it means → Here’s what we should do.”
Example Report flow
Here’s a proven structure for Competitive Analysis Reports:-
Executive Summary (2-3 sentences)
- “Competitor A dominates with hero’s journey narratives. Competitor B is testing cozy themes. We have an opportunity to own strategy/puzzle hybrid space.”
-
Competitor Breakdown (1 section per competitor)
- Creative strategy summary
- Top-performing patterns
- Visual examples
-
Comparative Insights (cross-competitor patterns)
- What everyone is doing (table stakes)
- What’s working best (proven patterns)
- What no one is doing (white space)
-
Recommendations (prioritized actions)
- Test 1: Hero’s journey (fast-follow proven pattern)
- Test 2: Strategy/puzzle hybrid (white space opportunity)
- Avoid: Cozy themes (saturated)
-
Next Steps (timeline and owners)
- Creative brief for Test 1 by [date]
- Assign owner for Test 2
- Share findings with product team by [date]