The people who screw up the creative brief are not likely to read this essay. That’s too bad. They need a serious talking to.
The thing is, I don’t know who they are by name, but I do know their identities by title or role within a client’s organization. Notice I don’t mention ad agencies. While everyone, everywhere, struggles with getting this document right, agencies know its value and take it seriously. At least the agencies I’ve worked for, and the people I know who work for them.
Client-side marketers, on the other hand, still display a dangerous ignorance about the creative brief. An ignorance bordering on insanity. No, I take that back. They are insane. Crazy insane.
The document designed to transform brands—and to make these insane people look good—is routinely ignored, undervalued, sabotaged, or all of the above.
Why? I wish I knew.
But I know who is to blame. They commit the same error for the same reason:
Ego. 
Which means my ranting will likely solve nothing.
Yet rant I will. I must. I have been called the “lone voice” on behalf of the creative brief. This is what a lone voice does.
The troglodytes come in three flavors, but share the same title: Senior Management.
1. They sabotage the creative brief process.
They sabotage because they can. They work like this:
Before the project has an official “kick off,” these saboteurs are either invited to review the creative brief, or asked to help compose it. They refuse. They ignore the request. They make excuses. They might beg forgiveness. But the result is the same. Their voice is not heard.
Then the creative brief emerges, and the next step occurs: the project kick-off.
The brief is discussed, or more likely debated for its lack of clarity and direction, but the driving force is always The Deadline. Usually yesterday. The work commences.
Then the work is presented, but not to the decision maker. Instead, to a less senior group. Some good idea rises to the top. Then it hits its first big hurdle. Senior Management (SM), who refused to participate in the opening stages, now steps in.
This is often when SM sees both the creative brief, as well as the creative work, for the first time. SM objects. The reason hardly matters. SM doesn’t like something. They revise the brief in some way, and that always means the creative work misses the mark. The process starts over.
Lost time. Lost enthusiasm. And what the SM should be most attuned to, but is not, lost $$$.
When a stake holder fails to get involved in the beginning, everyone pays…in the middle and especially in the end.
When there are multiple stake holders, it’s not unusual for no one to claim “final authority.” Worse, no one cares. Multiple turfs, silo-ed responsibilities, no collaboration. Everyone pays.
This is willful sabotage.
2. They don’t understand the creative brief.
All I have to write is: The Telephone Game. This is a simple visual.
You immediately picture a group of children…er…Senior Management. The one on the farthest left whispers something into the ear of the SM next to him. By the time the last in line hears the whispered message and announces what she has heard, the joke is on everyone. You know how this works.
But for reasons passing understanding, SM fails to grasp the concept. SM is convinced that a creative brief is not necessary. That everyone knows what the task is.
Even some veteran creatives buy into this nonsense. The rationale: We creatives often go without a brief and we manage to figure out what’s needed, and always deliver.
Bless you. My response: Why do you put up with it? Why do you become enablers?
No ad agency I know of works without a creative brief. Once in my past, I worked for a small B-to-B shop that did not use a creative brief. After months of pestering, SM relented, and instructed me to write the briefs.
Me, the copywriter.
Look what they have wrought.
3. They don’t believe in the creative brief.
I know, this is so close to #2 it may not deserve its own rant. But it’s a disease all its own. These troglodytes use the creative brief, but put so little stock in it that you might as well not have one at all. They are closer to #1 than #2 because this group of SM is likely to sabotage the process.
The primary difference between the saboteurs and the non-believers is: Influence.
Saboteurs dent morale, but the believers in the creative brief who work for them never lose faith.
Non-believers infect the entire organization.
I know this is flirting dangerously with religion, but the analogy fits. You have to put your faith in something that provides a rallying point. The creative brief is the logical and emotional center for the brand and of the creative process. These are its purposes. 
When you encounter troglodytes, you have to work especially hard to immunize yourself and your organization from their disease.
I have the feeling that you’re nodding in agreement with much, perhaps most, of what I’ve written.
“Alas,” you say, “what can I do?”
Here’s a thought: Print this out and leave it on the desk of your favorite troglodyte.
