The filters we hide behind.
I was in Orlando, Florida, recently doing a couple workshops. I had the good fortune of being able to visit one of the more famous theme parks where I happened to watch a light show just after sunset. It was a remarkable sight. More remarkable still was something I witnessed as I took in the […]
The burger account syndrome.
“We work in the _______ industry and you don’t have a ________ industry creative brief. You don’t know our business.” I hear this only after my creative brief workshop and only when there was resistance to my training. I never hear it when things go well. The truth is that the number of outstanding creative […]
What makes a creative brief writer?
Thirty seven years ago, I started my career in the advertising business. I wrote this essay seven years ago and am re-publishing it today because I still believe every word I wrote in 2015. I’ve put in more than a quarter century at ad agencies and corporations. The last few years I’ve devoted to writing, […]
What all good single-minded propositions have in common.
(I’ll break down the single-minded proposition to its basic elements on The Brief Bros., my video podcast. You can also follow me on Youtube.) Many years ago, about a week into a new job I’d taken as creative director on a major international brand, I was reviewing a creative brief that had been approved by […]
Collaborating on a brief and asking for feedback on a brief are two different things.
Good copywriters remember this mantra: “Tell them what you’re gonna tell them, tell them, tell them what you told ‘em.” It’s repetitive, yes, but instructional. The idea is to remember as a sales person (and that’s what copywriters are: we sell stuff with our words), that readers (or viewers or listeners) don’t remember things the […]
The most valuable commodity a brief writer needs: Time.
I think many, perhaps most, strategists and account planners would agree that time is the commodity they desire most. Time to think, time to read, time to interview and especially time to write a brief. Multiple drafts. Not the only commodity, perhaps, but one they cherish, and also regret when it is lacking. And if […]
The two most common mistakes marketers make when they write a brief.
Thanks to research by my friends Matt Davies and Pieter-Paul von Weiler at betterbriefs.com, we now have valuable insights into the yawning chasm between perception and reality on the subject of briefs written by clients and delivered to ad agencies. Specifically, briefs written by marketers. Whether the briefs are delivered to outside agencies or in-house […]
“You miss 100% of shots you don’t take.”
Hockey Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzky said these words. The line is both axiomatic and a tautology, but a necessary reminder to all of us. I use it here as a cudgel to berate creative brief writers: It’s all or nothing, baby. Too many creative briefs are shots not taken. I’ve read many paeans to […]
Never give up. Never surrender.
I’m not certain whether quoting Tim Allen is a good thing or a bad thing. I only know that it’s the right thing. His utterance is the answer to a question I asked myself recently: Why do you keep fighting the fight about creative briefs? Tim Allen, a.k.a. Captain Jason Nesmith in the romp called […]
Why creative briefs fail.
I tip my hat to Tim Brunelle, copywriter, creative director, strategist, lover of creative briefs, and a recent guest on The Brief Bros., for inspiring this post in response to a question put to him by my friend and co-host Henry Gomez. I’ll give you four reasons why I think a creative brief fails, plus […]
