Today’s coffee shop ramble may well be an exercise in the bleeding obvious.
I’ve long argued against having a creative brief as anything other than a record of intent – an agreed set of objectives against which the client can later judge the work. I’ve wanted the Brief to be a pair of granny knickers – there to ensure maximum ass coverage, to provide comfort and to keep everything decent.
But as a document that is intended to inspire creative people – forget it. Briefs tend to be exercises in filling in boxes. That process has become more ‘collaborative’ with clients, meaning that they get more words of their own in the boxes and given more time to argue over those words. So in most agencies the brief is now a political document, designed to appease each of the parties involved to the degree that creative work can start.
What then happens is that clients and agency alike use the work to thrash out what should and shouldn’t have been included in the brief in the first place and you end up with rounds and rounds of creative work; each round exploring a different strategy, rather than each refining an idea. It’s frustrating – but it’s how things work these days.
What has always excited me the most is the briefing. At its best the briefing is where a good planner gets to inspire people around an idea. It’s where they get to relive the excitement of the discoveries along the way, to talk about the brand, its ideas, what it means to people, where it fits in culture and what its ambitions are. The briefing is a session that’s all about instilling an idea and energizing people around it. My briefings tend to be full of anecdotes and asides and bits of trivia that I found along the way and made sense of as we groped towards a strategy. Other people use graphics and music and tours of facilities. It’s a session where you job is to sell the possibilities of the strategy. One word of warning here – it’s also often the session where the planner tends to try to sell what they think the perfect execution of the idea is. Do try not to… it may be a great idea, but it’s not the time.
So I’ve always been anti-brief and pro-briefing… asking why we archive briefs but never record the briefings that led to great work.
And of course I was wrong. To a degree.
Guy Murphy, a wily planner and man who knows good work pointed out that the brief and the briefing - despite sharing a phonetic similarity - are two entirely different beasts. Like Beavers and Diva (perhaps explaining my life-long preference for the latter)
As he said “The brief should be exactly that. It should be as short as possible and contain only the key objectives and points.”
Whereas the briefing “Should be as long as necessary – and contain as many of the stories, anecdotes, diversions, observations and facts as is necessary to excite people about the brand and the task at hand.”
He’s always more succinct than me, that Mr Murphy.
But he set me thinking. If the brief needs only objectives and facts then what should it look like? Here’s my first stab, I’m sure it exists somewhere, all briefs do.
So here’s my version of a brief
THE BRAND IDEA _________________
This is where we remind ourselves that our brand has a purpose and an idea that’s unsullied by the immediate need for action. This idea will rarely change. Nike has always been ‘an exhortation to participate’ because it has always believed that more people should be out sharing in the joy of sports. That’s not going to change
WHAT IS THE BRAND LOOKING TO DO _____________
What’s the task here? Is the brand looking to introduce a new product? Are they looking to charge a premium? Do they want 1% of Londoners to take part in some sort of sporting activity (the brief for Nike’s Run London)… do they want more young women to continue in sport?
WHY HASN’T THAT HAPPENED ALREADY? ________________
What are the things that have held the brand back from doing this in the past. If they want to increase their share of the 18-21 virgins market why don’t they have the share they’re after already? People give up exercise after it stops being compulsory at school? Young women are determined to keep an intact hymen? What’s up? Basically.
WHO IS THE BRAND LOOKING TO ATTRACT?____________
Brands are magnetic, people are drawn to them. Who is the brand after?
In this case it’s those 18-21 year old virgins who have given up on sport ….
HOW DO THEY RELATE TO THE BRAND IDEA?
Just what it sounds like. “18-21 year old virgins don’t see any need to participate in sport, they get all of the exercise they need burning down abortion clinics… and texting each other snide messages about the slutty girls”
WHAT CAN THE BRAND CREDIBLY OFFER THEM THAT THEY FUNDAMENTALLY DESIRE?
This is our ‘human truth’ – the thing that we all have in common.
“They do like the idea of having a slamming sportsperson’s body, that way virginity seems like a choice.”
WHERE ARE THEY MOST LIKELY TO BE RECEPTIVE TO THAT MESSAGE?
Where can this message be most culturally and personally resonant? Is it a billboard, a magazine that they read guiltily and in secret or do we need the local church to endorse “Hot bodied virgins for Jesus”?
WHAT ELSE DO WE KNOW THAT COULD BE RELEVANT HERE
Is there a piece of trivia, a case study, a seemingly loose connection that can make all of this really make sense to somebody looking for a fresh way in. “During the research we noticed that a lot of the girls had posters of _____ on their walls; they liked her ______”
SUM IT ALL UP_______
We’re a brand that’s all about getting more people to play sport.
We want to attract a certain group, 18-21 virgin girls
They gave up on sport after school
But haven’t given up the fantasy of a slammin’ athlete’s body
They’re most receptive to messages from their pastor
WHAT WE NEED________
We need a campaign that gets 50,000 late teen ice queens to take up some form of regular exercise.
Okay – snarky example but I think it works as a brief.
That may of course just be the way my mind works
Or the way it works today
Really need input on this I think.
No comments:
Post a Comment