How to turn your next creative brief into an inspiration

Many will debate the format of a brief or what qualifies as an “insight”, but most everyone agrees that a brief, however long or short, is a necessity.?

Just imagine beginning a creative task with a designer, copywriter or art director completely empty handed. The volume of questions they would have for you would make your head spin. Naturally you come to this exchange prepared with some basic questions already answered. Background. Audience. Creative challenge. Specifications. But still, they will have more questions. Challenging questions.?

They aren’t just looking for answers, they’re looking for insight. They’re looking for inspiration.

Brendan Brown, VP of Strategy at GPJ, recently polled creatives and planners on LinkedIn. He received 218 responses to a simple question: Do creative briefs require insight?

82% answered “yes.” However there was a healthy amount of debate over what constitutes an insight. Most of that debate landed on the idea that whether you label it an “insight” or call it something else, the brief needs to include a certain X-factor that leads to inspiration.

“It might not always be an earth shattering epiphany but it will be a new approach rooted in truth and designed to inspire my creative counterparts.”?

— Daniel Poulin, Director of Strategic Planning at The Mars Agency

“While part of strategy is about insights, the other major part is about simplicity. Working with clients to find focus, and giving creatives a tighter, more clear brief that inspires creativity.'

— Tanja Crnogorac, Strategy Director at Landor & Fitch

“We can see insights and creative opportunities born from truths (brand, audience, category, culture, etc.) that can inspire the creative platform/idea.”

— Adam Katzenback, Marketing Strategy

“No one needs an expected insight. But if It's something very Individual and well researched, it can help the creative to turn the campaign into something unique.”

— Cornelia K?ster, CEO

“Because insights are often the door into the psychology of the situation and understanding the mindset of the audience gives creatives the richest building block on which to build solutions.”

— David Michael Rich, Film, TV and theater creative producer

This universally sought after, inspiring X-factor is only discovered by asking the right kind of questions.

The problem with most creative briefs is their cookie-cutter approach using very basic questions. In an attempt to streamline the process, an all-purpose template has been created to provide answers to the most fundamental questions. Rarely will the creative team find the inspiration they need in those type of answers.

What is required is a more customized approach — a bespoke creative brief, if you will.?

The most effective solution is to produce a creative brief with a totally unique set of intuitive questions and corresponding answers strategically crafted to illuminate the challenge and provide powerful insights that point towards inspired and imaginative results.

And what qualifies as a powerful insight? Consider the often repeated assertion of Bill Bernbach:

“Nothing is so powerful as an insight into human nature… what compulsions drive a person, what instincts dominate their action… if you know these things about a person you can touch them at the core of their being.”??

In this search for powerful insights, there are countless questions that may be asked of any assignment. Each question, more specific to the nature of that assignment than might be asked in any other situation.?

But who has the time to generate assignment specific questions for every brief? Where do you find the time necessary to explore the depths of human nature? Much less, ensure that the questions, when answered, will inspire the creative team?

What you need is a resource that can investigate the assignment and determine the goals and objectives. You need a resource that will do the necessary research to understand the context of the assignment. A resource that has catalogued hundreds of probing questions designed to explore the unique requirements of every brief.?

But that’s not enough. You also need a resource with the creative talent to frame the brief in an inspiring fashion. You need a resource that understands the strategic goals and objectives of the assignment through the lens of a creative person, conducts the research necessary in an imaginative way to define those goals. A creative resource that can present it in a form that inspires the creative team to explore, invent, innovate, and experiment with enthusiasm.

Still, that’s not enough. You need a resource that can do this quickly. You need it tomorrow. This morning. Yesterday. You need it now.

You need Positive Brand.?

Positive Brand is the unique creativity and marketing services company that combines market research with creative solutions to produce customized and inspirational creative briefs for any marketing communication.

After years of quietly compensating for the absence of insights, we have successfully filled that void with the development of our scientific approach to creative.?Today, our disciplined, research-based practice produces fast, effective, actionable insights and analysis that inspires better ideas and produces better results.

When Positive Brand’s behavioral scientists and creative experts produce your creative brief, you get a lot of bang for your buck:

Interview Initial interview with client/client service to establish the campaign background, goal and objectives.?

Research Extensive, secondary research is conducted to establish the context for the campaign including customer, competition, brand, and marketplace. Powerful, primary research is available on request for an extra fee.?

Select Questions Based on research, a customized selection of probing questions is assembled from our proprietary catalog. We use the Williams Behavioral Change Model and the COM-B Model of Behavior Change as guides.

Inspiring Answers Answers to these select questions form the basis of the brief and provide all the information needed to explore creative solutions that meet the goals and objectives for the campaign. Every Brief is unique and distinctive and created specifically for the campaign in question.

A Happy Ending Finally, every brief comes with a happy ending. An inspirational story about the positive outcome that the campaign will produce. A motivating story that lifts the sails for you and your creative team.?

Added Value All research conducted in the course of developing the brief is included as addendum to the brief to be saved for future use.

We do the legwork for you.

We do it quickly—typically 3 days or less.

We make it inspirational.?

Getting started is easy. Contact us today to set up a pilot program for your next brief. The call is free and there is no commitment to work with us beyond the pilot. But be careful. Fast, effective, insightful, inspiring creative briefs can be habit forming.?

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Special thanks to?Brendan Brown ?for his poll on insights. And to?Daniel Poulin ,?Tania Crnkovic ,?Adam Katzenback ,?Cornelia K?ster -hiring- , and?David Michael Rich ?for their comments on Brendan's post.