E79: A conversation with Giles Edwards, co-founder of Gasp!
Airs August 17, 2022 Henry Gomez and I welcome Giles Edwards from the UK, creative director and co-founder of Gasp! Giles is also the host of a podcast called Call To Action. Giles interviews creative talent on his podcast, but today, he’s our guest. He discusses his beginnings, the challenges of starting his own agency, […]
Myths about creative briefs (they’re not what you think).
Creative briefs were “invented” if that’s the word a long time ago. Some credit the arrival of account planning in the mid-1960s, but I think the brief, in one form or another, probably existed long before then. And with any history comes mythology, or in 21st century parlance, misinformation. At the risk of giving them […]
E78: Classics Creative Review
Airs August 10, 2022 Our ongoing series of Classics Creative Reviews continues this week with some, well, classics. Henry and I begin our Classics review with a 1983 spot for the Yellow Pages by Abbot Mead Vicar in the UK. Next up is a Dancer Fitzgerald Sample classic for Wendy’s called Where’s the beef? Remember […]
E77: Why do marketers hate marketing?
Airs August 3, 2022 Two thought pieces caught our attention this week. The first is by John Long titled “What’s with all the advertising leaders hating on advertising?” The other is by our friend George Tannenbaum called “Ding-Dongs of Doom” on his blog. Each essay has its own argument, but Henry Gomez and I found […]
The lazy way to write a target-audience description.
Bullets should be banned. Sorry, gun fans, I don’t mean ammo. I mean those pesky black dots that show up on creative briefs everywhere. Like this: The bullets are usually followed by useless acronyms and marketing-speak such as HHI, 24-49, and other lingo. This is not thinking, it’s rote nonsense. Remember what Dave Trott said: […]
E76: One team or multiple teams—who gets briefed in?
Airs July 27, 2022 A recent guest on TBB, Mark Jenson, lecturer at the Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communications at the U of Minnesota, recommended a book called Rethink the Business of Creativity. Henry Gomez and I discuss a chapter from a book about how many creative teams at an advertising agency should […]
How much does an idea cost?
I use real briefs when I teach my workshops on writing creative briefs. Not blank templates, but completed briefs. Not case studies, but real working briefs. Among the questions I ask attendees is this: What’s missing from the briefs they review in my workbook? I know the answer before I ask it, of course, and […]
E75: Why do brief writers struggle writing a target audience description?
Airs July 20, 2022 This week, Henry Gomez (http://henrylouisgomez.com) and I return to Creative Brief Basics, a “nuts and bolts” topic. It’s old news that never gets old: Target Audience. Some brief writers forget how to dig to understand who their communication is meant to speak to. The lazy answer sometimes is, “Well, everyone.” Everyone […]
How to write a practice brief without actually writing a practice brief.
All professionals practice. Why? Because they know they need to stay sharp. Often, their profession requires it, but even if it doesn’t, pros practice anyway. That practice comes in many forms: refresher courses, conferences, online and in-person training. If you write creative briefs for a living, even if it’s not your main task, you need […]
E74: Creative Review—2022 Cannes Winners
Airs July 13, 2022 Week Two of Cannes 2022, Henry Gomez’s (http://www.henrylouisgomez.com) continuing adventures. This week, he and I review four Cannes winners. They are: “Super Human,” Grand Prix winner, Film by 4Creative London/Somesuch London. “Detectives” for Apple, Gold Lion, Film, by O Positive LLC Santa Monica, CA. “Liquid Billboard” for Adidas, Grand Prix, Outdoor, […]
