3 Telltale Signs of a Doomed Creative Brief.

Just so there’s no confusion about what a creative brief is, we’ll quickly give a high-level definition. It’s a short document, ideally a one-pager (hence brief in the name) that conveys critical strategic information to those tasked with ideating, designing, and writing creative communications. It’s a staple of ad agencies used to ensure the client and all stakeholders involved in the creative process are aligned with creative approach before ideation begins. If the brief is off, then the creative will be off so it’s important to get this part right. Unfortunately, this is actually where uninspired mediocre creative begins. 

Too many times creatives are expected to make lemonade out of lemons when it comes to ideating on strategy outlined in a creative brief. The saddest part is that in most agencies, the strategy is worked on for months, shortening the time for creative concepting. And when the brief is given to those who will do the creative work, the strategy is lackluster with no real insights, no stake in the ground, lacking really anything to spark out-of-the-box thinking. Plainly put, it’s boring. And boring briefs usually result in average creative at best unless the creatives are talented enough to make lemonade.

Of course, it must be said that there are exceptions to this at the agencies that truly get it, but we’re writing this to shine a light on an ongoing issue that has plagued the vast majority of the industry for decades. 
 

The problem is rooted in fear. 

The strategy person has two primary deliverability goals. One is to get a brief approved by the client or stakeholders to keep the project moving. The other is to give creatives what (the strategist thinks) they need to do the work. Both come with their own set of challenges that work against producing a great brief. The first one lies in the fact that getting an excellent creative brief approved is harder. Getting a poor brief approved is easy. That’s because getting a great brief approved requires taking a concise, yet firm ownable position. The best briefs also take a creative leap based on the research and/or informed hypothesis. Getting a client to approve that in a brief is much harder than putting everything the client wants to communicate in a document and taking a generic position that would be true for much of the competition. So, to avoid those hard conversations and a fear of pushing back on the client, the path of least resistance is to just make sure all the boxes are checked and kick it over to the creatives to solve. The other side of the fear actually comes from a good place. They truly want to give creatives all they think they need, so they are fearful to leave anything out that could be deemed useful. But this ironically hurts the creative process, because a wider strategy is harder to ideate against than a focused strategy where a unique and unboring position is taken. 

3 hallmarks of a creative brief that's doomed to produce ignorable creative.

It’s long. 

The more pages a brief has, the poorer the brief is. Mark Twain has been credited for saying, “I would have written a shorter letter, but I didn’t have time.” Whether he actually said it or not, it rings true. Conciseness is harder than verbose. We’ve seen agencies produce briefs that are 70, 80, 90 page decks. When it’s that long, what isn’t in there? The worst part is when creatives work off a long brief and when it comes time to show the work, the internal team says, “Why didn’t you focus on page 47, paragraph 3, sentence 9?” Condensing things down to a one-page brief zeros in on what the communication will and should be about. That’s laborious and forces you to make sacrifices about what will and will not be prioritized in the creative communication. Every word should matter in a creative brief. They should be chosen purposefully and thoughtfully. It’s easier to spot flaws when there’s less to review. So shorter briefs encourage important dialogue about what really should be included and what is less critical. When you’re focusing on everything, you’re focusing on nothing. 

It doesn’t take a firm ownable position. 

The more generic a creative brief, the more likelihood it will result in average creative. The more you can put a stake in the ground about what the product/service delivers, how it’s truly different, or how it uniquely benefits consumer lives will bear fruit in the creative output. Taking a firm position helps make the communication concise, memorable, and powerful. Stating the same things a competitor could or does say contributes to the ever-growing sea of sameness and will not help with delivering breakthrough creative. 

Lacks a strategic idea with creative spark.

Most briefs will at least attempt to be concise by listing a single most important point or something described as similar. However, often it will have multiple points crammed into one point, which creates a confusing mess of word gymnastics falling over one another. The best creative briefs not only actually stick to one point, but also have a splash of creativity in the language. Something that automatically ignites the imagination and helps to get the creative juices flowing. It’s worth noting that any word plays or creative leaps must be thoroughly thought through and intentional because the creatives will explore bringing them to life in various ways. A creative approach to the brief automatically sets the tone for ownable differentiating creative that doesn’t default to average and expected. 

Parting words. 

For privacy reasons, we can’t include creative brief examples for our clients. But if you're curious, please don't hesitate to contact us, and we'd be more than happy to walk you through our simple framework. Now, some people will tell you that B2B is different. It's just too complicated to drill down to one page. To that, we say poppycock. At nez&pez, we do it all the time, and it's this exercise that helps simplify the communication, drill down on what's really important, and determine powerful paths to uncover differentiation. Next time you utilize a creative brief in your processes keep these signs of doom in mind. They really are excellent predictors. Whether it’s an internal document or you’re working with an agency, a brief can be a vital component for alignment and strategic ideation. But it can also be a hindrance that can limit the creativity of those working on the project.