What I want in a creative brief.
I’m speaking now as a creative, a former copywriter and creative director. I’m speaking as one of the people to whom the creative brief is directed, for whom the brief is written, of whom much is expected once I have this document in my hands. In my hands and my art director partner’s hands. It’s […]
Who decides when a creative brief is “inspiring”?
Allow me to share with you a recurring sentiment I hear during my creative brief workshops when I show marketers and account people examples of well-written creative briefs. I hear this comment often enough to have made note of it even if I don’t hear it at every training. When I present one of these […]
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, […]
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 […]
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, […]
