I've been struggling to find a great creative brief 'template' for years. Chris Ribeiro and I got close to something pretty effective at WONGDOODY last year, but given the constantly changing state of the business, I thought it was time to go back and build upon it. My hope is to one day create a brief that will, more times than not, set the stage for big, juicy ideas like Diesel Denim Dating.
At es/drake I'm starting a planning group from scratch and figured it was time to tear into this subject. So, with help from a few friends, I gathered briefs from around the industry and picked them apart. I also spent lots of time on planning sites and blogs, took a hard look at the day-to-day volume of work at agencies and looked back at some of the better creative work I happened to be involved with and then analyzed what went down to get it there. Finally, I took into consideration the integrated state of our agencies: PR people absorb things very differently than designers, but they need to collaborate from the same document.
Here's what I think I've learned.
First, briefs aren't always necessary. With A-Tier talent, good ads can be done in less than 48 hours. A talented creative team can get to a really good "ad" very quickly if the need is concise and the account person has their act together. It's also worth noting that when there's little time, no one over-analyzes.
But whenever there's a business problem or campaign, briefs are necessary. And today, campaign success is achieved by a series of small bets. Therefore, briefs need to open up the playing field to allow creative and media people (who are briefed at the same time) to think about ads, web, pr, event, guerrilla, direct and new media simultaneously. To do this, I'm trying an IDEA BRIEF. Taking up two-thirds of one page, it consists of 8 parts, each of which are universally understandable to ALL integrated departments...
THE BRAND:
A succinct, easy-to-feel set of words that the brand delivers on.
(Nike: If you have a body, you are an athlete.)
TONE:
Meticulously crafted words or phrases that describe what every piece of communication should feel like. (Not "wise" and "fun," but perhaps, "mature with wit."
STATE OF THE BUSINESS:
A three sentence snapshot of the industry and your client's role within it.
THE ASSIGNMENT & CHALLENGE:
A succinct description of what's needed and why that's a challenge.
STRATEGY & SUPPORT:
The key points-of-difference the client provides that solve the above Challenge.
TARGET:
A qualitative overview of the mindset of our ideal consumer.
PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS:
Roadblocks the team need to know: the client hates yellow, we only have $10k, etc. (This is not things like legal, which can be added after the idea is done.)
DESIRED RESULTS:
Measurability. Should tie directly back to Assignment & Challenge.
That's it. Anyway, I thought I'd pass it on for others to experiment with and improve upon. And again, this isn't my work but a collection of stuff that was floating around the industry that just seemed to make sense to me when pieced as one... Yours to try. If you wish. And if you know of something better, (or if someone else is doing the exact same thing) please, pass it along, my friend.
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