The Creative Brief: Making It Count

On my first day, of my first job in marketing some 25 years ago, I strode into the Creative Director's office, to introduce myself and try to wow him with my passion for the industry. Having graduated with a journalism degree, I was keen to also show off my talent and copywriting dreams. Wearing my brand new suit and court shoes (first time on both accounts and seriously uncomfortable) to my dismay he didn't seem at all impressed. He looked up over his layout pad, with chunky pen in hand and pencil behind his ear, sort of looked me up and down in a way that he was clearly judging my (likely lack of) creativity by my dull, lifeless, navy blue, mother-had-chosen suit, and simply said,

"So do you reckon you can write a good creative brief then?"

Brilliant I thought, I'm a fantastic writer, I've done stints in PR, writing all my own releases, worked as an editorial assistant in the (then) Maxwell empire and a creative brief has got to be simple as. I rambled about myself and my capabilities and told him I was ever so confident that I could knock one out really well, really fast, and that I was a good learner, and fast worker. I was feeling on fire. Surely I could win him over with that speech I thought to myself. He stared at me hard, friendly-looking, yet somewhat exasperated. "There's one thing you need to know", he said. "The creative brief is singularly THE MOST IMPORTANT document you'll ever write when you work in this industry. It's a case of shit in, shit out. And if you don't labour over getting it right, if you don't draft it, then write it, then rewrite again and again, until it is beyond perfect, then you won't be giving your team the chance to create the best work for the clients."

And there is was, the first and most important lesson I have ever learned in all my years of working with brands. It's been the first question I have asked anyone who has ever worked with me, for me, or I've trained. It's a question I ask when interviewing when assessing. Because it is the most important thing we can do. We get it wrong, hook the wrong or a weak insight, describe the audience without enough depth, and the work will not ever be as great as it could be.

So, what is a great brief and how do you get it right? When you consider it, it makes absolute sense that getting the brief right is critical. Imagine if Michelangelo had just been asked to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel? He may have painted it plain blue. Imagine if he was told to paint the ceiling in a way that people would flock to see it, he may have painted it with a unique twist, interesting colours, shapes etc. But we can all tell that the brief was clear... and we can all tell exactly what that brief would have been. And that is how you know there has been a great brief when the work you see is perfect. Perfect for the brand, perfect for the audience. I've pulled together our top tips for brief writing. Feel free to comment below or visit our website and sign up to our newsletter if you want to get more useful tips into your inbox.

1. Project background: Make it clear and make it count.

This is not about forwarding shed loads of documents and web links for your creative/s to sift through. That's a waste of not only your money but also their time. More importantly, it makes your job an arduous task from the off. You've killed inspiration at the stage of introduction. Provide key information. What's the project about, why has this project come to life, why are you doing it. This area of the brief represents no more than 10% of the content.

2. Deliverables: Concise and detailed specs

List the items that need to be produced. With sizes.

3. Your Audience

One audience. Not a demographic, not a massively broad target like 18-65 year old women in the UK. Be as precise as you can. Who is your audience, who are the people your campaign needs to really, really engage with. Don't only look at who they are, but describe their world, their lives. What do they enjoy doing, what brands do they like. Give a picture of who they are, where they go, what they eat, drink, the clothes they wear, where they hang out, what their worries and aspirations are. The more detailed you can be, the more that your work is likely to resonate with and appeal to the needs of that audience. Do NOT make the mistake of giving more than one audience. IF you have a broad target, consider the psychographics that connects them and keep age out of the brief.

4. The Proposition

One single-minded sentence that describes exactly what your brand, or product is all about. This need to be crafted, honed, tightened. The words in the proposition can completely skew the results. Be careful, be mindful and be self-critical. Don't be scared. Consider the adjectives you use, make every word count.

Your proposition needs to contain both insight and truth. It should not be a tagline, nor a headline, yet it will read as if it could be.

Don't be afraid to be bold. In fact, be as bold as you dare. One agency I worked in for some time had an 8-word limit to the creative proposition in briefs - that should help you understand just how pithy you need to be.

5. Substantiation

Easiest to start this sentence with 'Because'... The substantiation essentially qualifies your proposition. Validates the lofty statement you've made, anchors it in facts to back it up, ensures that you have the proof in the product or brand to take that stance in your proposition.

6. The Competition

Who are the greatest competitors, what do they do in the category - what are you up against, how can you be different?

7. Behavioural Change

What is the current consumer doing, thinking and feeling about your category and the products in it? What do you want to shift - what do you want them to do, think and feel?

8. Market Conventions

What is the 'usual' in the category? What's different about what you do or how you do it? What's your USP? Make sure it's unique. Find the angle that gives your brand / product or service a true point of difference as this is yours to own.

9. Tone of voice

What is your tone - warm and friendly, authoritative and serious, maverick and dynamic? Whatever the tone, describe it here so that the team know how to bring your concept to life.

10. Mandatories

Legal mandatories, regulatory info, specific colour usage, logos required etc. List and attach.

11. Timings

Be clear on timings for each of the stages. give long enough for concept development that the depth of creative thinking can be done upfront.

When you run your own company, every penny counts, so when you're working with suppliers, external agencies or internal teams, ensuring that due diligence is spent at the beginning of a project will not only save time and money, but also keep everyone driving forwards with best intentions and passion.

The creative part of the process, is by far the most fun, the most rewarding and the most important. It's also where costs can spiral at a very early stage, often when cash flow is at its most crippling. Spend time to get it right. As a wise and genius creative director once said, "Shit in, shit out".

Here at Wonderous, we love to help busy entrepreneurs maintain the vision and passion they have for their business, brand and products. We provide not only the tools to make life simple and the day to day flowing smoothly, but also the ability to meet quarterly for check-ins where we get the right heads around the table to assess the business health from all angles, workshop business challenges and set the agenda for the next quarter.

If you think you could do with some wonder, please contact me: jo@wonderous.co.uk