Six Ways to a More Effective Creative Brief
1. Paint a clear picture of the desired outcome by writing clear statements of objectives that are intended to drive action. Some people confuse objectives with just a description of the assignment. For example, “Develop a new ad campaign for XYZ brand” is not a statement of objective; “Correct misperception of XYZ brand” is.
2. Make the target audience come to life. Go beyond the basics such as job titles and roles in decision-making process to a snapshot of the audience as people. That will help the creative team connect to them as humans. Draw on the audience analysis you probably have done already in earlier strategic development processes.
3. Help the creative team envision the competitive environment (trends, recent developments) and explain the rationale for the communication program in this context. For example, this is a preemptive strike against a competitive new product. Go beyond comparisons of your brand vs. the competition.
4. Don’t send your writers on a fishing expedition with a general dump of monographs, reprints, data sheets etc. Guide the writing team with clear and concise direction. Your message platform is a strategic document and a good starting point, but your writing team will benefit from additional input on what’s important and what’s secondary as they review these documents.
5. Satisfy your writers’ curiosity. A corollary to providing clear direction to the writing team is to include relevant source materials. Writers are curious and, in our space, analytical people who often want to fact check and verify your synthesis of the information sources.
6. Make your single most important message singular. In my experience, this is the most difficult task—to zero in on the one message that is relevant and powerful enough to motivate the audience to take action. This is especially important in advertising, when appending to a singular, core message does little more than confuse the audience by losing focus.
Did I forget something? Please add to this list or expand on some of the points by posting your comment below.