Better Creative Briefs Workshop

2 By Angela Koch, Chief Ideas Facilitator, Invitro Innovation

Creative Brief

Writing

Objectives: Understanding the importance of the brief and learn to write a better creative brief

Who: Junior and Senior Account Management/ Planners

Duration: 2 days

Key Modules

Sharing stories of

the journey to great

work

Introducing the CBW

Assignment

Killers of Creativity

Case Study Creative Briefing Forms

The Brief Filling the

boxes

Practice: The CBW

Assignment

1 2 4

5 6 7 8

What makes a Good Brief

3



Creative Briefs Stories from the Field


Client Brief

We need a new Lux TVC

We need a new TVC for Lux.

Signed,

(Name Withheld) Lux Marketing Director


Client Brief

Tell people how tasty and healthy our Veggie Burgers are.

Not just for Vegetarians!



Client Brief: Create Awareness for CityLink Mall with the positioning of “Singapore’s First and Only Subterranean Mall”

Client wanted to use Taxi Advertising to broaden awareness


The Real Problem – Loads of people traffic, just no shoppers!

Solution: Loyalty Card


Where are our briefs now?

Crea%ve Brief Quality Meter

1

2

34

5


• In most agencies: – Good briefs, more exception not rule – Overall briefs are too general – Information overload – Lacking imagination or choicefulness

• Good Communication happens in spite of the brief not because of the brief

Where are our briefs now?


Killers of Creativity


– Wants to play for both teams – The infamous “exciting but steadfast” “traditional yet

modern” – Total creative compromise

1. The Hermaphrodite Brief


• Like a skipping CD • A single thought or idea expressed in a number of ways – but all

saying the same thing repeatedly. • Yet only to appear again in a slightly different fashion in a new box

somehow trying to convince you that by repeating it slightly differently in a new box or paragraph that it’s a really different thought. But it’s not, it’s the same thing just said further down the page kind of like this…

The Ground Hog Day Brief 2. The Repetition Brief


• Information pretending to be insight, lacking in imagination

3. The Lazy Bastard Brief


• Verbose without committing to an idea or position • If I tell you everything I know perhaps something will spark a

thought? • Need to show all your homework

4. The Kitchen Sink Brief


• Aren’t I bloody impressive, jargon filled brief • Total creative confusion – creative priority now on shelf talker level.

5. The Smarty-Pants Brief

*English translation: “Mom’s prefer store brand salad dressing because they’re cheaper. We want them to consider us instead.”


• Allows only one way for it to be executed • Long list of support points all mandatory • Lots of mandatory art direction • No creative teams required

6. The Prescriptive Brief


What is a creative brief?

cre·a-tive (krea tiv), adj. 1. having the quality or power of creating.

2. resulting from originality of thought; imaginative.

brief (bref), adj. 1. lasting or taking a short time. 2. using few words; concise: a brief report. 3. abrupt; curt. 4. a short and concise statement or written item.


What makes a Good Brief?


THE IMPROBABLE HEADLINE

PLANNER WRITES BRILLIANT BRIEF!


The bridge between smart strategic thinking and great communication

Strategy

Advertising


Great Briefs are Triumphs of SIMPLICITY

To simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak. ~Hans Hofmann


Great Briefs are Triumphs of SIMPLICITY

Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler. ~Albert Einstein

Alessi’s Hot Bertaa


Its the equivalent of a fisherman’s guide (Jeff Goodby)

A creative brief should improve your chances of having lots of good ideas


Creatives write FROM A BRIEF not TO A BRIEF

Inspiration to flow from NOT A Bucket to be filled

LIMIT LIBERATE


A Creative Brief represents the first Creative Thinking

The creative brief does sit outside the creative process, it is the beginning of the creative process .

Planners and Account Managers take the first imaginative leap

The creative team must believe that a great campaign is possible

Think of the creative brief is the first ad, an ad to influence the creative team


A Brief represents the first Creative Thinking

Single minded proposition as Ad Headline

Highest ground clearance of its class.



A Creative Briefing is not: - a single meeting - an email - nor is it a brief slipped under a door!


The Creative Brief and Briefing can be used interchangeably to refer to a larger process of account and creative people molding the direction communications should take.

- Outline communications problem - How to go about solving it

- Summarise the content of meeting


Clients DO NOT participate in Creative Briefings

- They need to agree to the objectives and general direction - The detail does not concern them

x


What goes into the

brief

How much the

Account person knows

The Key Job of the Brief is to FILTER information • Too much information can be as damaging as

too little information


The Key Job of the Brief is to FILTER information • The Brief is not an opportunity to show how hard

you’ve been working – As Account Mgr / Planner, you are judged

by the quality of the communication you helped create NOT the amount of work you put into a brief


The Key Job of the Brief is to FILTER information • If its not relevant to the consumer,

its not relevant to the brief • Distinguish between “orientation”

and the brief • A brief is NOT an Ode to the

product


Summary - Great Creative Briefs…

Means to an End Bridge Simple Filter information Liberate Are part of a larger process Are the first creative thinking Improve your chances of having ideas


A Creative Brief should reflect the best thinking to solve a client problem with communication


Case Study


The Problem

• Concerned with long-term declining milk sales


The Ineffective Strategy • The California Milk Advisory Board (CMAB), had for

many years produced the "Milk Does a Body Good" ad campaign.

• 93% of the people already thought milk was good for them

• 90% said it had calcium • The problem was that the old ads didn't change

consumers' behaviour. • Since people thought milk was good for them but sales

volume was falling anyway, it was decided to abandon the nutrition theme.


The Strategy

• Focus on the 70% of Californians who claimed to drink milk frequently – People who drank milk tended to think of it as an

accompaniment to certain sweet and sticky foods that they loved.

• Rather than selling milk as a complement to certain foods, the strategy became to remind milk drinkers of the anxiety and disappointment that came when milk wasn't available at crucial moments.

Don’t be “wholesome”


The Communication Solution

Play Anton Burr/ Heaven


The Result • In 1994, California's milk sales

increased for the first time in over a decade

• Within months, the "got milk?" advertisements became famous.

• The tagline, "got milk?" spawned countless imitations.

• One of the longest running campaign’s in Advertising History


Discovering the Client Business Problem Some Questions you could ask: • How does Brand X make money? • Where are they currently underperforming?

– Do potential customers know of them? – Is Brand X relevant? – How do they feel about Brand X? – Have they the opportunity to purchase Brand X?

• How can communication help? – How much time and resources do we have to solve

this problem?


Tips for Solving Challenging Briefs


What if your problem is really big and you don't have a strong case? Or much time?

– Healthy Snack vs regular snacks – Recycling vs doing nothing – People vs. OJ Simpson


What sequence was triggered for the 2 milk campaigns?

47


How to get kids to snack healthy?

48


Think About the Communications Campaigns you have been part of…

49

Can you think of any that DID NOT start with THINK?


Creative Briefing Formats

50


Source: http://theplanninglab.typepad.com/ http://theplanninglab.typepad.com/theplanninglab/2009/04/a-totally-subjective-creative-brief-template-review-.html


Our Common Goal:

Root Message:

Concept Idea:

Root Element:

Source: http://theplanninglab.typepad.com/


Describe the Audience?

Why aren't they doing what we want them to do?

Why should they?

Describe the brand character we want

What must the advertising include?

Source: http://theplanninglab.typepad.com/

54 By Angela Koch, Chief Ideas Facilitator, Invitro Innovation Source: http://theplanninglab.typepad.com/




Forms and Templates are insurance against incomplete information

• Just as advertising templates don’t inspire great communication

• Brief Templates do not inspire great briefs

• They are Insurance against VERY BAD BRIEFS


A Brief in whatever format Should Provide Answers to the following

• What’s the real problem? • Who is this among? • What do we know about their relationship

with the category or brand? • How might we best approach solving this?

– Exploiting our brand assets / or creating new ones


I think it is what you do before, during and after the brief / briefing that is vastly more important than what

boxes are we filling in. UK Planning Director


• Is there a clear understanding of what the brand represents? • Is there a clear business strategy? • Is the target audience perceptively described? • Does the insight grab you?

• Does the proposition tell you the answer or pass on the problem? • Is there a clear benefit to the consumer? • Does it have an idea in it? • Is it ownable? • Could you write ads to it?

• If you were a creative, would you be excited with this brief? • Will it create the type of advertising that you think is right? • Is it simple, practical?

Is this a Good Brief?


If you can remember just one thing from this Creative Brief Training it’s this:

MAKE YOUR BRIEF INSPIRING


• Believe in the power of the brief, which is to address a fundamentally important business issues in a creative, innovative way.

• Take on the challenge of fresh thinking. If you can show the creative team how to break the rules - and which rules you can break - they will love you for it.

• Be ambitious. Be confident. Believe that you can really change the marketplace, and hopefully your clients will also share your ambition.
