A powerful creative brief

While defining what a creative brief is and what kind of brief is an effective one I personally love how it is defined by Ireland’s Marketing Monthly, “Briefing is not just a matter of putting together a detailed list of facts, figures and instructions. Creative briefing should set out to inspire the people who create the magic – the creative teams.”

Following  features helps make a creative brief most effective and useful tool in planning for a brand activation campaign:

•       There should always be a written creative brief

•       The most essential element in creating strong, effective direct marketing communications. It should be motivational, not rushed

•       A comprehensive document which helps you strategize and crystallize thoughts before writing copy, formulating a creative strategy or starting design work

•       Contains the "specifications" to which both creative services and copywriting should adhere

•       All stakeholders in the campaign should be present at the briefing session – creative, account management, media, production

•       Too often the home of long and lazy. Boring creative = horrible campaign

According to the  guru of marketing and my ideal David Ogilvy, you have all the freedom in the world in creating your brief as long as it is relevant and to the point.

“Give me the freedom of a tight briefing.”David Ogilvy

13 elements that make up a Powerful Brief - The Right Elements:

Background

•       Characteristics of brand; why job is being briefed; market considerations, overall marketing strategy

•       It should begin to whet the appetite of the creative team

Task

•       What is being asked of the agency/creative team?

•       What services do you want provided: creative, production, media?

•       What is the consumer problem/need that the creative must solve? 

Objectives

•           What do you want to achieve, by when and with what measurable results?

Target Audience

•       Prospects and/or customers

•       Geographic, demographic and psychographic elements

•       Current perception, attitude & usage of the product by the target audience now

•       Create as insightful a picture as possible

Position

•       The one key message you want to deliver in terms of the prospect’s own needs that sets you apart from all other competitors

•       The heart of the creative process

•       It distills all the compiled information into one or two sentences (beware of the word “and”!)

Support

•            Reason to believe the benefit will be received

•           Who/what else uses/thinks this is a great product/service?

•          Desired Response 

What do you want the target to think/feel/do?

Offer

•          Induces target market to respond to your solicitation.

Media

•          What media do you intend/propose to use? Direct mail? Print or press? Web?

Tone and Manner

•       Descriptors for copy style (e.g. Emotional, conservative; fun; dynamic; serious, 

fear, etc.)

Tone

•       The way the reader should ‘hear’ the message in the context of the brand, 

product or service 

•       Should not be off-side with the brand’s personality and should match the 

product message and you are delivering

•       Examples : friendly/ authoritative/ professional/ gentle/ empathetic/ newsy/ exciting/ sad/ sarcastic/ comedic

Manner

•       The method in which the communication should be delivered and is less emotional in nature

•       Examples : direct/ educational/ collegial/ inquisitive/ professional / newsy(manner can overlap with tone).

Mandatories

Any logos, slogans, terms and conditions to be included or legal requirements

Budget

Agency budget for creative, production, media

Timelines

Deadlines: for initial “rough” concepts, for completed  concepts, copy and layout, presentation to the client, launch.

If this article was of interested to you and you found it useful or have any feedback you contact on: brandstunts@gmail.com

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