The Creative Brief: An Introduction

The creative brief
CM417.5
Edward Boches, Professor of Advertising

If you can’t turn
yourself into
your customer,
you probably
shouldn’t be in
the ad-writing
business.
Leo Burnett

You have been
Looking at lots of work
Exploring annuals and online sources
Evaluating good and bad work
Collecting sources of inspiration
Thinking about what we’ve been talking about in class
Preparing for the real event

Questions
What do you need to do and know to create great
advertising?

Your product: The magic is often in the product.
Client’s business: Chance favors the prepared.
The customer: The path to relevance starts here.
The market: A good way to be topical and tap into culture
A tight strategy: Small rooms discipline the mind.

What is strategy/brief?
Why is it important to the creative development?
Where can the strategy come from?
What are the elements that comprise the brief?
What questions do we have to answer?
What are the biggest mistakes?

What is the creative brief?
It is a blue print, a guide, even a source of inspiration. It details our
objectives, audience/community, message or utility, the context in
which we’ll engage, timing and budget. In short, the what, who,
where, when.

The brief is the what we are doing. The creative is the how.

Product or Service:
What is the product you are advertising? Where is it sold? What is its
status in the marketplace?

Problem/Challenge Snapshot:
*Objective:
What is the problem you are trying to solve or the challenge you need to
overcome. Describe in a few sentences. Need to introduce a new
product and get attention. Want to leverage a new feature to drive trial.
Want to reposition a product so that a new user will consider it. Want to
get current users to consume more. Etc.

Role of communication:
Is it awareness, trial, to drive traffic? Is it to connect at the moment of
purchase? Is it to earn market share, change opinion, or capture data?
Is to mobilize existing customers? Get influencers to advocate? What
action are you striving to inspire?

Target audience/community:
With whom are you engaging? Demographic – age, sex, income,
marital status. Psychographic – interests, aspirations, lifestyle, habits,
tech-savvy, other.

*Current beliefs:
What do they think about our brand now?
Desired beliefs (or outcome or action):
What do you want them to believe or to do? Do we need to change
perception, opinion, frame of reference?

*Insight that reveals how we can motivate them:
What insight do you have that you believe will motivate them to take the
action we desire? Is there a frustration, aspiration, related life need,
emotional connection or shared belief you can tap into and leverage?

Relevant topical cultural trend or tension:
Under this subhead answer the question: What is happening culturally that
might be useful to consider. For example, concern about the economy is
relevant to buying a car and taking out a car loan.
The over dependence on our smartphones and the time we spend on
screens might be relevant to selling a vacation or amusement park that
promises family time together.
The rising cost of college education might be relevant to a condom brand.

*What category conventions can we challenge:
How can you use category style, language, standard approaches
against them to garner attention and provoke?

*Driving brand idea (or catalytic idea):
What can you say or do that will achieve our objectives and affectively
drive action?
This could be a message based campaign, a digital experience, utility,
on-going “project,” or even a platform.

*What is the context:
Where will you engage and why is it the ideal place/media to connect
with your audience/community?

*What could you DO or MAKE or BUILD to demonstrate your idea?
Under this subhead answer the question: What could you actually DO
rather than SAY. For example, Honest Tea creates a truth index and
experience with its honor system tea displays. Tesco replicates a
supermarket digitally with its subway system. TNT demonstrates its
expertise in drama with a live real-time performance in a small town
square. Think about marketing as service and the outcome being a
utility or platform that supports customers and builds loyalty. See Nike
+, Tesco, Sit or Squat.

Igniting a conversation:
Under this subhead answer the question: How will you get people
talking about your product and/or idea? What makes it shareable,
spreadable, and interesting enough to overcome indifference or have
people seek it out. It might be the creative idea itself.
It might be what you do/make/build. It might be the way in which you
encourage and/or inspire sharing. It might be an idea, concept, social
utility that inherently invites the co-creation of content. See the True
Blood launch, or the Oreo Daily Twist.

Community and or content creators we can leverage and
how.
Beneath this subhead answer with what content creators (Twitter
forces, Pinterest influencers, bloggers) do we have mutual
interests that are worth leveraging to either curate content, co-
create content, or spread content to users who share that interest.
What might we create? How might we engage? What metrics
(KPI's) might we consider. Please do not use likes or follows as a
KPI.

*What is the press release that describes the outcome?
Toyota USA today announced that its Sienna minivan has gained 8 points of marketshare in just six
months. The increase in sales is attributed to the fact that more and more young parents are
happily trading in their SUVs and sports cars for a vehicle that reflects their “awesomeness” as
parents.

Most often the creative comes out of the driving brand idea
(message)...
The driving brand idea. The single thing you are going to say or
do.

Essential equipment for life’s daily
adventures.

The most precise office organizing system you
can buy.

Low speed crashes hurt more than
you realize.

Charmin’ makes your bathroom experience
more comfortable.

Samsonite luggage can withstand the
rigors of airline travel.

Well what are the rigors? It’s Hell for a
suitcase out there.

Our glasses make it easier to read the fine print.

Our dust rollers pick up all the fur.

Harley Davidson sets you free.

But, the creative idea can come from other parts of the brief, too.

Product or Service:
The Toyota Sienna mini-van. It is competing in a much-maligned
category and losing market share. TS share has gone from 29 percent
to 19 percent in one year. With more category competition, TS needs a
significant idea to regain share.

Problem/Challenge Snapshot:
Overcome lost marketshare.
Make the TS a purchase that is not embarrassing for younger parents.
Significantly increase consideration among target audience.

Role of communication:
To get people excited about the TS and to generate buzz about the
product.
Achieve a lift in “aspirational” imagery for the product -- get people to
think it is stylish and distinctive.

InSync Traditionalists.

InSync Traditionalists. Moms and Dads with attitude. Proud and happy
to be parents, subscribe to family values, but they were professionals
before they became parents. They are hip, smart and in sync with the
new techno, connected, media hub and pop culture.

*Current beliefs:
The currently think product is functional and reliable, but not in line with
their personality.
Desired beliefs (or outcome or action):
Believe that the TS is actually cool enough and stylish enough for them
-- the parents -- not just designed with the kids in mind.

*Insight that reveals how we can motivate them:
Today’s young parents are no longer isolated at home with babies and toddlers. They can and do reach out to
the broader world – almost constantly. Social media is their lifeline and sharing information is a consistent
activity throughout their day. We knew from this that we could enlist them to become our collaborators – not
only in distributing our message but in developing it as well. Because this target is so consistently and actively
on Facebook and YouTube, we kept our ear to the virtual ground. We picked up on what they were saying so we
could elevate the fun for the follow-up launch of the even sportier SE grade.
We knew that they joked about and would get the joke about stereotypical minivan parents.

*What category conventions can we challenge:

*Driving brand idea (or catalytic idea):
Awesome parents drive the Toyota Sienna

*What is the context:
TV, print and outdoor to the tone and provided the high level of awareness
we needed.
On line and YouTube to up the fun quotient and because InSync
Traditionalists live there and share content.

Where in the brief did the creative come from?

The way Toyota defined the target and brought them to life.

Awesome parents drive the Toyota Sienna.

The Creative Brief: An Introduction

The Creative Brief: An Introduction

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The Creative Brief: An Introduction