NAILING THE PERFECT BRIEF
Being the next Don Draper might sound like a dream come true, but getting there requires a bunch of carefully calculated steps. There’s always that one brief that will help you make it or break it. And tapping this crucial brief can be a life changer. So the question arises when you wonder as to how do you seal the deal? How do you know what to do in order to nail this game changer?
The most and basic and vital function of the creative brief should be to grab the attention and involvement of your creative team. It is the foundation of any advertising campaign. Your creative team needs to be inspired enough to work on the brief so that your client can attain maximum benefits from it. The brief needs to be crisp, clear and relatable for your team. Insufficient information as well as huge paragraphs of fact after fact has proved to de-motivate and bore the creative team. Creative people are known to be volatile and easily bored, so it is important that your brief excites them and keeps them on their toes.
As far as the client’s side goes, it is important to note everything that is being said. Recording the conversations would be a good way to go about this. Making a note of exactly what the client wants while learning and unlearning relevant and irrelevant information could be a good way to see the bigger picture of what is required from you. It is important to keep digging, asking and questioning various aspects of the brief. This way, you could get a clearer insight and better direction as to how to go about with the brief.
Besides understanding the product from the client’s point of view it is important to question its standing in various spheres of life. Besides the product analysis, it is important to do competitive benchmarking, brand research and market research. It is vital to understand the dynamics and the mindset of the target audiences and the positioning of the product, its categories and competition.
In a lot of cases, enormous amounts of time are lost due to communication gaps between the client and the team. It is imperative to ensure that your client and your creative team are on the same page. Exchanging ideas, samples, feedback and keeping in constant touch with your client is a must. All this, without losing your agencies touch of creativity is important. You are being paid for your unique ideas and they must be not be forgotten or sacrificed due to the clients list of requirements.
Understanding the functions of the brand, the people, the clients and your team is a necessity. At the same time, not compromising on creativity, simplicity and deliverables is the way to take on your big brief.