Why did a copywriter and creative director start teaching other advertising professionals how to write a creative brief?
My answer hasn’t changed since I began in 2005:
I got tired of reading and having to work from bad briefs. So I did something about it.
I stopped complaining and started learning.
I stopped talking about it and started walking the walk.
I started by reading the articles and books written by account planners and strategists. And talking to them. Then I created a full-day workshop from scratch. I wrote an 80-page workbook that accompanied my 60-slide Keynote presentation, packed with videos and print campaigns and great briefs.
My blog followed. I’ve been contributing to it since 2008.
In 2009, I wrote How To Write An Inspired Creative Brief. It’s now in its 3rd edition. In 2018 I wrote How To Write A Single-Minded Proposition.
In 2017, I joined the faculty of the Association of National Advertisers’ Marketing Training and Development Center. I teach a portfolio of six workshops, all of them about or related to creative briefs, including the ANA’s only Creative Briefing Mastery Program.
In January 2021, my friend and colleague Henry Gomez and I launched a video podcast called The Brief Bros. We’ve been talking about briefs, advertising and interviewing industry leaders every week. We’re coming up on 70 episodes.
And now, I have launched Creative Brief Workshops. I teach two workshops, one on creative brief writing, the other on the single-minded proposition. I offer each workshop three times a month, and only 12 seats per workshop.
I keep the workshops intimate to maximize hands-on interactivity and lively conversation. If you prefer to hang back and be a wall flower, you probably won’t like my methods.
I don’t lecture. You and I will talk and discuss and debate. Feel free to challenge my thinking. You won’t be the first.
I don’t teach from case studies. We look at real briefs, written by ad agency planners. They were hard to find, by the way. The briefs, I mean. They are all polished gems, great stories well told.
But guess what. The briefs I’ll show you may be polished, but they are not perfect. No brief is. We look at their flaws as well as their genius. You need to understand both.
I think you’ll discover that when you have a good conversation, combined with reading examples of great briefs that we dissect together, you will become a better brief writer. You learn by doing.
Sign up and give me a try. I look forward to having a stimulating conversation with you.
Keep the faith.
