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

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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

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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 Mr. Big is the big bar

biggest bar, that won’t slow you
bar none 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 Brand X is specially

different kind of car designed for women
drivers

The Second Cup is Second Cup coffee is

the Ultimate Coffee the strongest coffee you
experience 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 Extra’s flavour lasts

will stick by you in a long, long time
today’s hectic lifestyle

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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, Heinz is the best

richest ketchup tasting ketchup

Pizza Pops have Pizza Pops will

a lot of stuff in them 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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