Of all the hot button issues within an agency, the Creative
Brief is right up there for creatives.
It is supposed to be high-octane inspiration—a document filled with so
much insight and illumination Moses could have brought it down from the Mount.
Alas, too often a brief is anything but. It is a dumping ground for superfluous junk,
meandering thought, multiple message requirements, and meaningless brand
babble.
I'd like to think that the cause for the multi-page brief
is, to paraphrase Blaise Pascal, the writer did not have the time to
make it shorter. But I don't. It is laziness or the writer just doesn't
know what a brief must do. Part of the blame rests with clients, brand
managers, AEs—creative are not excluded here—who either like to think they are
the customer or that the customer isn't very bright and will believe anything put in a persuasive tone. Customers are not and do not. What's more, they quite likely know a lot more about the
brand and its competition than the client.
Creatives are problem solvers and when it is open ended—meaning there are no constraints on solving the creative problem—the more creative the solution can be. Here are my suggestions that the ONE PAGE (yes, one page) brief should say:
Can the creative problem be posed as a question? E.g. "How can we get X to consider purchase?' If it can't make it become one.
What is the point of distinction with the brand? (Note: this is NOT a USP—it is time to dump those relics because they are, for the most part, meaningless and only hamstring creatives.)
Who is our target audience and why?
What is the brand's market share and its penetration? (Two separate
things)
Is there any meaningful offer?
What is the budget?
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