The Creative Brief Project

Day 3 Thoughts and Findings

Prepared by: Ed Cotton-BSSP/Influx@cotton

February 2010

Contents

• The Creative Brief Project• Methodology• Recommendations• Core Themes– The Brief is Fundamental– The Brief Needs A Re-Model– It’s Not About the Brief

• Things to Think About Next

The Creative Brief Project

• On an on-going conversation about the stimulus and inspiration of creativity

• Open to all, conducted in and proliferated via social media

Objective

• Understand the current relevancy of the creative brief, the physical form and in so doing, learn more about the importance of the process.

• Establish a domain on Twitter to continue the conversation #creativebriefproject

Methodology

• Highly un-scientific• Social conversation-via-Twitter and blogs

• 72 hours of feedback

This Deck

• Provides recommendations and an overview of the input to date

• Shares core themes• Quotes and commentary from contributors

• Uncovers the areas that need further development and discussion

The Start Point

The Conversation

RecommendationOld World

Standardized Brief

Work

Some conversations

New World

Collaborate and Converse Over Possibilities

Co-Authored Non-Standard Brief

Briefing Presentation

Multiple and Constant Conversations

Work

Recommendations1. The brief isn’t dead, but Planning leaders

should take a long-hard look at their briefing documents and make sure they are still relevant. Maybe multiple brief formats are required

2. The communication world has changed, briefs need to reflect those changes- social ideas/social media/connectivity/WOM/Interactions

3. Emphasis should be placed and training given to ensure that all briefs are clear, well written and tell a powerful, single-minded story that functions as a start point

Recommendations4.The brief should be co-authored with senior

creatives to codify a single-minded story at a specific moment in time

5. The brief needs to be turned into a briefing presentation- a discipline and art in itself

6. There needs to be a process that allows the story to evolve with collaborative conversations post-brief-how does this get documented?

7.Energy, thought and design needs to placed the pre-briefing stage in order to develop a collaborative forum to discuss multiple possibilities/opportunities

Recommendations

8. We spend time understanding our client’s target audiences- why don’t we spent time constantly understanding creative needs- micro and macro?

9. Find a way to manage the multiple and expanding creative conversations

Core Beliefs

1. The Brief is Fundamental

Directions Matter More Than Ever

I come back to the brief as "What we want you to do", and frankly I'm not fussed about how long it is or what the format might be. The objective is to get people with insight and the capacity for original thought to

actually spend quality time thinking about the client's challenge, and set the direction from which everything

else flows.”

PlannerRick

“But amongst the vast digital media of actions, we now need a clear articulation of what the

heck we want people to do with our brand ideas. We need a brief that guides brand action and user participation, we need briefs guided by

verbs. We need briefs that are robust enough to address action throughout a myriad of media..”

Aki Spicer

“A well thought out brief will pave the way for great work: Print, Digital, Social or otherwise. Anyone who sees this document as a mere from to fill out should consider a career change. A great brief inspires,

aligns, sets expectations, scratches below the surface, seeks truths, dismisses fluff and works as a compass to guide a group as

they collaborate to solve a problem.”

Posted by Bernard Urban on 02/09/2011 07:15 PM

“the (written) brief is a useful tool for gaining alignment with clients or even other agencies.”

Posted by Mark Lewis on 02/10/2011 01:53 AM

“Get a decent writer and people will read with passion and yearn for more.”

Mikkomikko

“A creative brief is only ever as good as the person writing it.”

roymurphy

“We love information and insight. We can always filter, we can always re-shape, but a creative who doesn't want clear direction

isn't a creative”Mikkomikko

“In fact, in all the new confusion of technology and shortening deadlines and

multimedia deployments the brief is more vital than ever. The brief/briefing is meant to

articulate what the heck we're doing. Knowing what the heck we're doing should never die.”

Aki Spicer

2. The brief needs a re-model

“Planners are to blame for this. We've become a species of habit. I believe if the creatives are

going to be handed a physical document (read:creative brief) at the end of the day, can we at least explore different formats?... think as planners, we need to shake off our laziness and

almost clockwork-like tendency to start typing out a brief in a Word doc - the creatives are not going to

get inspired by mere 'plannerisque' smart text anymore.”

Posted by Wesley-Anne Rodrigues on 02/08/2011 04:35

PM

Stop Lazy Form-Filling

“I believe the primary purpose of the brief and briefing is to simultaneously inspire and focus creativity. Therefore, no brief should ever look and feel the same as the last or the next. The questions and format

should be tailor made to address the different brand, audience, objective and so

forth for each campaign. Keep the team involved and on their toes.”

Posted by Caitlin McRobbie on 02/08/2011 07:03 PM

Briefs Need to be Customized

“It’s based on an antiquated view of how communication works and how culture operates”

Gareth Kay

3. It’s not about the brief

What goes on around the brief, matters more than the brief itself

“In "Truth, Lies & Advertising" Jon states, "I was only able to find four of those briefs. There was a simple reason I could not find the others - there was no such thing as the 'original' brief. They had never been written...Until the day comes when we put creative briefs in consumer magazines or run them in the Superbowl, I think the time spent noodling over detail in a brief is wasted time. Well, perhaps not entirely wasted, but it could at least be better spent.

Posted by Shaydon Armstrong on 02/09/2011 06:54 AM

Brief Writing Wastes Time

“Ostensibly the brief was created so that planner and creative could work together. But, I wonder if the brief isn't a relic of architecture, when the planning department and the creative department were on

different floors and paper work was shuffled along in cubby holes or by a nice fellow with a rolling cart. I made it several years working in creative agencies and startups before I ever wrote a brief, or saw one,

actually.

Posted by Bud Caddell on 02/09/2011 05:25 PM

“You produce something that inspires them to play." ? It is much more about the briefing than the brief.”

Posted by sam joseph on 02/09/2011 03:52 PM

It’s All About the Briefing

“In terms of writing the brief Bud and Heidi Hackemer (see her slideshare "Ideas, Ideas, Ideas") have it nailed - the strategic idea comes out of good discussion and idea generation with creatives.”

Posted by Mark Lewis on 02/10/2011 01:53 AM

Understand the Fragility of Creativity The Brief Can Be Blunt and Brutal

“I showed up to a meeting at a big soda brand where we were supposed to begin the creative process with a few key teams - another agency started the meeting by

pushing over their 1-page, 8-point font, clusterfuck of a brief in a "BOOM" sorta way. The conversation went nowhere for an

hour”

Posted by Bud Caddell on 02/09/2011 05:25 PM

Briefs Can Kill the Conversation

“Creativity is the most essential strength of the agency, so the challenge shouldn't be passed like a football, it should be gently coddled like a newborn baby.”

Posted by Bud Caddell on 02/09/2011 05:25 PM

“Creativity is always a process, the Brief often assumes that

it's simply a matter of stating objectives. That's crucial, but it isn't creativity. If it's

your thing, by all means, follow your process, but don't let process rule interaction.”

Posted by Bud Caddell on 02/09/2011 05:25 PM

How Does Your Idea Get Owned by Someone Else?

“After we get together, the creative team often leaves, thinks on the challenge

themselves, asks incredible questions, sometimes starts over - in other words, they do make

it their own.”Posted by Bud Caddell on 02/09/2011 05:25 PM

“In my experience, the actual written brief was a lot less important than the idea exchange in multiple conversations between the planner

and the creative team. That's where the sparks are”jwillingpichs

Things to Think About Next

• What is the pre-brief, brief/briefing?• How does it work?• Does the classic format need updating? How?• Should there be multiple formats?• How do you manage multiple conversations with

extended creative teams?• Do we really understand the different needs of the

different creative disciplines?• Should conversations be live/changeable documents?

Can we use technology to do this?• Do Planners need to go to creative writing school?• Do they need to study drama?

Check out Bud’s awesome thinking on creative collaboration

http://www.slideshare.net/bud_caddell/how-do-you-design-for-creativity

add ideas via Twitter to #creativebriefproject