Creative Briefs and Briefing
Black Pencil Academy,
Toronto
Agenda
1.
What is a Brief?
2.
Filling in the Boxes
3.
The Briefing
4.
A Case Study
5.
Conclusion
2
1. What is a Brief?
What is a Brief?
• A creative brief is the most important piece of
paper an account team produces
• It is a demonstration of how good you are
• Therefore, it is how a creative team
judges/curses you
4
What is a brief?
• A distillation of everything you have learned
• All the information that must be conveyed by
the advertising
• A contract for you, the Creatives and the
Client
• A team effort
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What it isn’t ...
• Set in stone
• Sole property of the planner
• A place to copy out the client brief
• A place to show off every fact you know or
marketing term you have learned
• Primarily for placating the client
• The same as the strategy or the advertising
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The Advertising Process
Develop the Strategy
Write the Brief
Write the Ads
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The Advertising Process
• Advertising tries to get the consumer to do
something that will benefit the client
• The Strategy is the plan for achieving this
goal
• Who do we want to talk to?
• What do we want them to do?
• What can we tell them about the brand so they will do it?
We develop the Strategy and
the Creatives carry it out
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The Advertising Process
The Brief is their road map
If the directions aren’t good, they’ll get lost
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What Makes a Good Brief?
Direction + Inspiration
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Direction
• What is the one thing you want the
advertising to say?
• If you can’t explain it to your friends in one
sentence, start again
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Inspiration
• The most powerful advertising contains
insights that truly resonate with the
consumer
• One important insight should be at the heart
of your brief
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What makes a good brief?
Direction + Inspiration
One clear and compelling
thought about the brand
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Why Briefs Go Astray
• “I didn’t have time”
• “The Client made me write it this way”
• “There was nothing to say”
• “There were too many things to say”
• “We didn’t have enough information”
• “The Account Team couldn’t agree”
Make No Excuses!
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Believe in the possibility
of every assignment
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Every new campaign is an
opportunity to reinvent advertising
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The Goal
“The best briefs are so good you can’t wait for
the account team to leave your office so you
can get started”
Unidentified Creative
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Some General Advice
• Get your story straight beforehand
• Take your time
• Keep it focused
• Be concrete, not abstract
• Speak English
Remember the goal is always great advertising!
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2. Filling in the Boxes
Filling in The Boxes
• These can be confusing
• What goes where?
• What are they for?
• Just remember, they all have to lead to one
main thought - the proposition
• Include only what is both necessary and
illuminating
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1. What’s the reason for this brief?
What you need to explain:
• What is the background/context for what we are
doing?
• Why the heck are we advertising this brand
anyway?
• What do we need the advertising to do for it?
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1. What’s the reason for this brief?
• Objectives must be realistic
• Advertising objectives, not business
objectives
• Keep it to the point
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1. What’s the reason for this brief?
“The product has a severe saliency deficiency so it does
not get into the target’s consideration set. The leading
brand sets the category values and our brand is seen
as a “me-too” because of these dominant associations.
Alternatively, a proportion of the target segment have a
dissociated perceptual set with respect to the brand.
The campaign objective is to increase saliency and to
communicate a brand identity which is motivating and
more appropriate to the product’s experiential
manifestation”
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1. What’s the reason for this brief?
“Cheer’s main benefit is to keep colours
bright, but most people don’t know this. We
need to make them understand so that they
choose it for its own merits and not as a
second best to Tide.”
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2. Who are we talking to?
• Be as specific and vivid as you can
• “Women 18-45” not very helpful
• Neither is laundry list of meaningless
adjectives and media cliches
• Try to describe a real person
• But, don’t tell whole life story
• Include only what will help Creatives to
talk to them
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2. Who are we talking to?
“Young adults 18-25. Someone self-assured, active
and energetic, self-reliant, positive, optimistic,
individualistic, self-centred, not superficial, irreverent,
somewhat cynical, skeptical, savvy, fashion-conscious,
honest, straight-forward, computer-literate,
entrepreneurial, self-indulgent, hedonistic, likes having
new things, doesn’t change opinions to please others,
doesn’t change behaviour in order to be liked, thinks of
him/herself as an individual but has a powerful need to
fit into a group, preoccupied with sex/gender-related
issues, has short attention span, wants instant
gratification AND likes chocolate bars”
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2. Who are we talking to?
“A 19 year-old guy who likes to think he’s the life of the
party. He’s into South Park, Mike Meyers, etc. and is
constantly repeating comic catch-phases like he wrote
them himself. He’s a little too mainstream to be truly
hip, but he’s still very concerned with his image.”
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3. What do they currently think?
• This is not about their life in general
• Rather, their relationship with the brand, the
category, the advertising
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3. What do they currently think?
•
•
•
•
•
•
How interested are they in the product?
How often do they use it?
When do they use it?
How do they feel about it?
How do they feel about our brand vs. the competition?
What do they ultimately want the product or brand to do for
them?
Don’t go overboard: only include what is truly relevant
to the problem the advertising must solve
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3. What do they currently think?
PMB 99
“If I work hard enough I will get to where I want”, “I don’t
like taking orders”, “What brands I buy says a lot about
me”, “I hate anything that is hype and smacks of
phoniness”, “If it’s too perfect, it can’t be trusted”
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3. What do they currently think?
They chew gum all the time but it’s not
something they think about much. As far as
they’re concerned, all gum is pretty much the
same. What’s more, they’re completely turned
off by gum advertising which they see as
cheesy and trying too hard. Still, they might be
persuaded that one gum was superior if it made
its point convincingly and actually managed to
be entertaining.
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4. What’s single message should this
communication convey?
Many Creatives don’t look at anything else!
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4. What’s single message should this
communication convey?
• The most crucial to get right and the easiest to go
•
•
•
•
astray
Remember, the box says single-minded
Be concrete, not abstract
Err on the side of simplicity
Distinguish between what you tell them and what you
want them to think
One clear and compelling thought about the brand!
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Single Minded vs. Double-headed
Mr. Big is the
biggest bar,
bar none
Mr. Big is the big bar
that won’t slow you
down, now available
in new Peanut Ripple
flavour
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Concrete vs. abstract
• Abstract ideas are much harder to
demonstrate
• Abstract language can make you sound like
you’re saying something important, even
when you aren’t
• Concrete language makes your point for you,
and doesn’t let you hide behind it
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Abstract vs. Concrete
Brand X is a totally
different kind of car
Brand X is specially
designed for women
drivers
The Second Cup is
the Ultimate Coffee
experience
Second Cup coffee is
the strongest coffee you
can buy
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Deep Thoughts vs. Simple Thoughts
• These days, it’s fashionable for advertising to
make Profound Statements About Life
• It makes us feel better about selling things to
people
• It can also lead to cliched and generic
advertising
More important to be pertinent
than to be profound
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Deep Thoughts vs. Simple Thoughts
• Don’t be afraid that a simple idea is too dull,
just because it is simple
• A simple idea is easier for the Creatives to
work with
It’s their job to make it interesting
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Deep Thoughts vs. Simple Thoughts
Extra is the gum that
will stick by you in
today’s hectic lifestyle
Extra’s flavour lasts
a long, long time
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Proposition vs. Desired Response
• Often confused
• Distinction between what you tell them and
what you want them to think
• Desired response ultimately more important
to brand
• But proposition more relevant to creative
team as a starting point
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Proposition vs. Desired Response
Heinz is the thickest,
richest ketchup
Heinz is the best
tasting ketchup
Pizza Pops have
a lot of stuff in them
Pizza Pops will
really fill me up
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The Final Test
Write it out on a blank sheet of paper and ask
yourself: “Can I write an ad from this and this
alone?”
If you can’t, probably no one else can either.
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5. Kick start!
• For proposition to be credible, it must be
backed by evidence
• Should be one of most inspirational elements
of brief
• Give Creatives ideas they can dramatize
• Try to unearth interesting nuggets that might
inspire
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Proposition: Cadbury Milk Chocolate is the
creamiest milk chocolate
Support: Only Cadbury Milk Chocolate contains
a glass and a half of fresh milk in every 225g
Holy Shit Factor: All the milk in Cadbury Milk
Chocolate comes from Cadbury’s very own
herd of Irish dairy cows
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Brand Voice
• How you say it, not what you say
• Most well known brands have an established
tone - an essential part of their equity
• Don’t list contradictions: “energetic, peaceful”
• Try and do it in one perfect word
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Creative Considerations
• Executional mandatories
• Media ideas and opportunities
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When you think you’re done:
• Re-read it
• Sleep on it
• Show it to someone older and wiser (not your
Dad)
• Get agreement from the Creatives
• Sell it to the client
• And finally, be sure you haven’t used any of
the following words...
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Jerk-Off Words to Avoid
• Ultimate
• Savvy
• Experience
• Modern life
• Virtual
• Empower
• Aspirational
• Proactive
• Contemporary
• Self-actualizing
• Edgy
• Hectic
• Synergy
• Extreme
• Breakthrough
• Clever
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The more we use language rooted in the real,
ordinary world, the better equipped the
creative team will be to communicate
with it in the advertising
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Briefing
Paper plus Personality
• Both parts of the briefing should inspire and
excite and motivate
• One part is notoriously neglected
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What is not a briefing?
• Slipping a brief under a Creative’s door, or the
•
•
•
•
•
old leave-on-the seat trick
A rushed, last minute meeting
Something attended by client
A formal, boring presentation
A spoon feeding
A one-time meeting with your Creatives
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How to Brief
• Set aside enough time
• Show the packaging
• Show historic / competitive ads
• Touch, smell, eat product
• Get out of the office
• Visit the factory
• Use images, music, animals
• Get drunk together and brainstorm
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In Conclusion
• Remember: it’s your road-map for the
creative team!
• Know exactly what you want them to do and
make sure they can understand:
• Speak English
• Include only what is both necessary and
illuminating
• Focus on one clear and compelling thought about
the brand
• Put time and effort into writing and briefing
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Remember:
Crap in = crap out
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