How to prevent the 11th hour veto.
The creative brief writer’s bane. You’re just about to send the creative team off to begin the project, or you’re about to send your brief to the ad agency, when you get a call or an email. Stop. The brief needs work. Signed, your boss. What happened? Here are some pointers to smooth the way, […]
The creative brief is about subtraction not addition.
As we are about to add another year to the calendar, it’s time to remind brief writers about the importance of subtraction. The creative brief, by design, by definition, is about strategic reduction. It is about stripping away excesses to arrive at the ideal essence of your brand. Antoine de Saint-Exupery, author of The Little Prince, […]
Ad folks get it. Consumers don’t. Why the disconnect?
I posted one of the billboards from this campaign by Rethink Canada last week on LinkedIn and asked the question, “Do you know the brand?” The result was impressive. Over 8,000 views, which for a guy who spends his time on LinkedIn talking about creative briefs, blew my mind. It didn’t go to my head, […]
Creatives must contribute to the creative brief before the creative briefing.
Well duh. But you’d be surprised how often this seemingly obvious piece of advice is never followed. I remember a workshop I delivered to an ANA member a few years ago. It was for a national paint brand. When I asked about their existing process, I was told that marketers, who typically wrote briefs for […]
Six ideas on how to write better single-minded propositions.
No one wants to write a bad single-minded proposition. I get it. There’s a ton of pressure on you to not just write the damn thing, but to write a brilliant one. When everyone expects, well, Just Do It, anyone would shrivel up into a dried-out raisin. So here’s my advice. Number One: Save the […]
What no one says about the creative brief.
The creative brief is old school. The creative brief is dead. The creative brief inhibits creativity. The creative brief does not guarantee good creative. (This one is true.) All of these statements have popped up in the trades, on social media, in conversations, at conferences and award shows. They have been heard before. But what […]
Bob Hoffman was right, mostly.
Recently, I read and commented on Bob Hoffman’s LinkedIn essay, “The Three-Word Brief.” Bob was also a guest on The Brief Bros., a videocast I co-host with Henry Gomez, VP strategist at Zubi Advertising in Miami. Bob was right. I was wrong. Well, he was mostly right, and I was mostly wrong. There’s more to […]
Thoughts on how we see the world, with thanks to Ed Catmull and the “Invisible Gorilla.”
I’ve written before about the need for brief writers to have empathy. You need to have the capacity to walk a mile in the shoes of you customer. You can’t fake empathy. You can’t pretend to know someone with superficial observations, bullet-point factoids, “I read it somewhere else” research. Research is important, but empathy connects […]
Creativity is bound by rules, like it or not.
Two ideas from David Ogilvy, which seem to contradict one another. First: “Talent, I believe, is most likely to be found among nonconformists, dissenters, and rebels.” Second: “Creativity needs discipline and freedom.” Are they conflicting thoughts? Has the advertising legend contradicted himself? No, I don’t think so. Creativity is a double-edged sword. Creativity in any […]
BOOK EXCERPT: Never write a creative brief by yourself.
From How To Write An Inspired Creative Brief, 3rd Edition, Chapter 8 “Gettin’ good players is easy. Gettin’ ‘em to play together is the hard part.” — Casey Stengel NOTE: This chapter was written especially for in-house ad agencies that have not hired a strategist or account planner. Never write a creative brief by yourself. […]
