This is a deck I presented to a group of Junior Planners at this year’s Account Planning Group Workshop in Hamburg. The presentation is a general and very rough introduction into one of the key tasks of a strategic planner - the creative briefing. Coming from a digital agency, they asked for a digital perspective on the topic. From my point of view there is no big difference as planners should approach any project from a medianeutral perspective.

1. You’re holding a handbook for visionaries, game changers,
and challengers striving to defy outmoded business models
and design tomorrow’s enterprises. It’s a book for the…
written by
Alexander Osterwalder & Yves Pigneur
co-created by
An amazing crowd of 470 practitioners from 45 countries
designed by
Alan Smith, The Movement
(DIGITAL-)BRIEFING
s[cubed]
APGD Junior Planning Workshop
Hamburg 12/11/2010

3. Why digital briefing?

5. Creative Brief
cre·a-tive (krea tiv), adj.
1. having the quality or power of creating.
2. resulting from originality of thought; imaginative.
brief (bref), adj.
1. lasting or taking a short time.
2. using few words; concise: a brief report.
3. abrupt; curt.
4. a short and concise statement or written item.

6. Agenda
GENERAL
CLASSICAL
DIGITAL

7. 1. GENERAL

8. A briefing is no end in itself.
It has two core functions.

9. Giving direction

10. Inspiration

11. A briefing is a lot but not a set form

12. A briefing should be fun to work with

13. 2. CLASSICAL

14. Writer of the Creative Brief
The brief is widely considered to be the
plannerʼs main product – or ʻkey tangible
deliverableʼ to the creative development
process.
Source: APG UK, WhatIsAccountPlanning_Nov2007revised.pdf

15. Writer of the Creative Brief
One of the myths is that all planners do is
transcribe the clientʼs marketing jargon
into baby talk so the creatives can
understand it.
Source: APG UK, WhatIsAccountPlanning_Nov2007revised.pdf

16. Writer of the Creative Brief
Thereʼs considerably more to it than that
of course; clarity, brevity, and fertility
being the hygiene factors of a good
creative brief.
Source: APG UK, WhatIsAccountPlanning_Nov2007revised.pdf

17. Writer of the Creative Brief
And as the creative brief has the power to
spark ideas – and ideas is what our
business is all about – then that is a pretty
important role.
Source: APG UK, WhatIsAccountPlanning_Nov2007revised.pdf

18. Different agencies, different approaches

26. We ask & answer the right questions:
‣ Description of the problem: What is really the problem that we try to solve?
‣ Objective: What do we try to achieve?
‣ Brand: What are the strengths/weaknesses we need to take care of?
‣ Competition: Against whom to we try to win?
‣ Target: Who are we trying to address and what do we know about them?
‣ Key Message: What is the single central key thought?
‣ Reason Why: Why should someone believe that?
‣ Reaction: What should people think/do after we reached them?
‣ Tonality: How do we want to communicate?
‣ Channels: Which media and touchpoints are most relevant?
‣ Measurement: What are the key performance indicators?
‣ Task: What should the team do?

27. 3. DIGITAL

28. Same same but different

29. Nowadays we also have to consider many
new internal audiences – not just
“creatives” but technologists,
programmers, project managers, event
organisers, editors ...
Source: APG UK, WhatIsAccountPlanning_Nov2007revised.pdf
Writer of the Creative Brief (continued)

30. This means the briefs have to be multi-
functional and, more importantly, agreed
by many more people. The plannerʼs job
here is not just to produce the brief but
facilitate the process.
Source: APG UK, WhatIsAccountPlanning_Nov2007revised.pdf
Writer of the Creative Brief (continued)

31. Reason to Believe -> Reason to Bind
Target Audience -> User
Consumer Insight -> Media Usage Insight
Competition -> Content
Objective -> Challenge Statement
Digital focus

32. From planning cycle to creative process

33. Focus on a clear challenge statement

34. Write it as a definite question, beginning “In
what ways might I…”
Vary the wording of the challenge by
substituting synonyms for key words.
Stretch the challenge to see the broader
perspective. Squeeze the challenge to see the
narrow perspective.
How to perfect a challenge statement?

35. website: www.scubed.de
twitter: @schauerte
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