Diagnose (Creative Analysis)
Diagnose is how you understand why a creative works (or doesn’t). While Discover shows you what’s performing, Diagnose goes deeper — breaking down tone, pacing, narrative structure, visual elements, and more.Performance Marketers and Creative Producers rely on Diagnose to post-mortem campaigns, understand breakout hits, and refine creative direction.
Why it matters
Diagnose helps you move from intuition to insight: ✅ Post-launch reviews — Understand what drove success (or failure)✅ Breakout analysis — Deconstruct why a creative unexpectedly performed
✅ A/B test insights — Identify which creative elements made the difference
✅ Creative refinement — Improve underperforming work with data-backed changes
How to use Diagnose
Choose your entry point
You have two options:Use a Diagnose Chip (Recommended)
- Browse the Chip Library and select a Diagnose Chip
- Options: Creative Breakdown, A/B Comparison, Performance Diagnosis
- Chips provide structured, consistent analysis
- Ask a question like: “Why did this creative underperform vs [benchmark]?”
- Great for flexible exploration
Start with Creative Breakdown for deep analysis of a single creative, or A/B Comparison to understand differences between two versions.
Provide your creative
Upload or link to the creative you want to analyze:
- Creative URL — Link from YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, etc.
- Upload — Drag and drop a video or image file
- Benchmark (optional) — Provide a comparison point (competitor creative, previous campaign, market average)
- Chip: Creative Breakdown
- Creative: [Your campaign video URL]
- Benchmark: Top performer in genre (from Discover results)
Review the breakdown
Boa will analyze the creative across multiple dimensions:
You’ll also see similar creatives and how they compare.
- Tone and theme — Emotional tone, thematic elements
- Pacing and structure — How the narrative unfolds, rhythm, hooks
- Visual elements — Composition, color palette, character design
- Audio cues — Music, voiceover, sound effects
- Callouts and CTAs — Text overlays, messaging strategy
- Performance drivers — What correlates with engagement and conversion
You now understand the specific elements that drove (or limited) performance.
What to look for
When reviewing Diagnose results, focus on these insights:Performance drivers
- What elements correlate with high engagement? (e.g., fast-paced openings, cinematic visuals, emotional hooks)
- What’s missing compared to top performers? (e.g., clear CTA, character focus, narrative structure)
Tone and emotional resonance
- Does the tone match the genre expectations? (e.g., fantasy RPG should feel epic, not casual)
- What emotions are evoked? (e.g., excitement, curiosity, aspiration, fear of missing out)
- Is the tone consistent throughout?
Pacing and narrative structure
- How quickly does the creative hook the viewer? (first 3 seconds matter)
- Does it follow a clear narrative arc? (problem/solution, transformation, world-building)
- Are there pacing issues? (too slow to hook, too fast to understand)
Visual and audio elements
- What stands out visually? (character design, color palette, composition)
- Is the audio reinforcing or distracting? (music choice, voiceover clarity)
- How do visual and audio work together?
Comparison to benchmarks
If you provided a benchmark:- What’s different between your creative and the top performer?
- What specific changes would close the gap?
Save or share
Once you’ve identified improvement areas: Save as a Report:- Click Save → Report
- Choose a template (e.g., “Post-Launch Review”)
- Add recommendations and next steps
- Click Save → Creative Brief
- Use the insights to refine your next iteration
- Include specific improvement areas
- Share findings with your creative team
- Update creative direction for future campaigns
- Test specific hypotheses (e.g., “Does faster pacing improve performance?”)
Learn about Creative Briefs
Turn insights into production-ready briefs
Common use cases
Post-launch review
Post-launch review
Goal: Understand what worked (or didn’t) after a campaign.Workflow:
- Run Creative Breakdown Chip on your campaign creative
- Compare to genre top performers
- Identify performance drivers and gaps
Breakout analysis
Breakout analysis
Goal: Deconstruct why a creative unexpectedly performed.Workflow:
- Run Creative Breakdown Chip on the breakout creative
- Identify unique elements vs typical patterns
- Test similar approaches in future work
A/B test insights
A/B test insights
Goal: Understand which creative elements made the difference.Workflow:
- Run A/B Comparison Chip on both versions
- Review element-by-element differences
- Identify the key driver of performance delta
Creative refinement
Creative refinement
Goal: Improve underperforming work with data-backed changes.Workflow:
- Run Performance Diagnosis Chip on underperforming creative
- Get specific improvement suggestions
- Create revised brief with changes
Best practices
Do:
✅ Always compare to a benchmark or similar creatives✅ Focus on actionable insights (what can you change?)
✅ Share findings with your creative team
✅ Test hypotheses from diagnosis in future work
Don’t:
❌ Diagnose in isolation — comparison is key❌ Ignore genre context — what works varies by category
❌ Over-index on single elements — look for patterns
❌ Skip follow-through — turn insights into action