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
Use Diagnose after running a campaign or spotting a breakout creative. It’s perfect for learning and iteration.
How to use Diagnose
1
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.
2
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)
3
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
Diagnose results showing creative breakdown
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?
The most actionable insights come from comparison. Always provide a benchmark or review similar creatives alongside yours.
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
Diagnose shows correlation, not causation. Always test hypotheses before making big creative bets.