A session on the creative briefing process for Account Management and Planning teams in independent, integrated agencies everywhere.

1. SESSION ON CREATIVE BRIEFING
HOW ACCOUNTS/STRATEGY CAN BETTER COMMUNICATE AN ASSIGNMENT TO
THE CREATIVE TEAM
DEC ’14 | Dubai

2. The purpose of this document is to give a
clear understanding of creative briefing as a
process and not a handover of
assignments and responsibilities onto
another team. The aim is to delve into the
art of briefing in order to use it to enliven a
project’s scope even before it has reached
the drawing board.

3. Agenda/
Why brief
Creative vs. task briefs
Steps to follow
Drawing a picture
The bigger purpose
Round-up

4. ““Etymology et al”Etymology et al”
1.Why do we brief?1.Why do we brief?

5. “to simplify means to eliminate
the unnecessary so that the
necessary may speak”
- Hans Hoffman,
Painter

6. a brief’s an early stage
blueprint, a guide, a canvas to
what we are about to do

7. direction
inspiration

8. The right brief.The right brief.
Comprehensive before concise. Clarity before
brevity.

9. We wouldn’t have
needed a brief if
there was a menu or
if everything was à la
carte.
But it’s not really a waiting job,
is it?

10. Why?
A brief answers all the Ws
A BRIEF
What?
Who?
Where?
When?
Never answer
a How

11. *Source: Julian Cole’s Creative Briefing Process

12. ““Ask what you need first”Ask what you need first”
2.Creative vs. task briefs2.Creative vs. task briefs

13. First thing you do is to
scope the requirement

14. We are dealing with a challenge here
When to
do a
creative
brief
When
to write
a task
brief

15. Answer these
✓Existing or new account?
✓Do we know the brand, the business, the strategy, the campaign…
the requirement scoped?
✓Have the Ops team worked on this business before?
✓Do we know what they exactly need to deliver?
✓Can they work without any added guidance, strategic or creative
direction?

16. Task Brief
A task brief is
simply pro
forma. It
should
clearly and
objectively
state what’s
needed

17. Task Brief
The aim is
always to
delegate a
specific work to
a team where
there’s no apt
conceptualizati
on required

18. Creative Brief
A creative brief
being
thoroughly
conceptual,
tries to
encapsulate
the larger
challenge in a
precise form
*Source: Saatchi

19. Creative Brief
As mentioned
earlier it has a
primary goal of
inspiring
thoughts and
mandating the
solution its
seeking from
the creative
team
*Source: BBDO

20. Team Exercise: Write a task brief
Case #1: Need 3
display banners
for an acquisition
campaign for a
bank’s credit card
product line.

21. ““Lose the templates”Lose the templates”
3.Creative briefing in steps3.Creative briefing in steps

22. The thing about
getting briefed over
email.
No one likes to get notified.
We like being talked to.

23. A briefing process we like.A briefing process we like.
LIAISE
Take them through your
material. Set a communication
agenda.
HAVE A CHAT FIRST
Tell brand (client), scope (what’s
needed), expected timelines
(tentative) in a min.
SET UP SESSION
Sync timelines, get the right
people in.
REITERATE
Have them disagree with your
agenda. Set a new one.
CONFORM
Back-and-forth through the
pipeline and have a final set-
in-stone consensus.

24. Work with a checklist if required.
The accounts team
is clear on the
objective and the
client’s launch
timelines
Strategy has an issue with
the audience profiling.
They would like the client to
answer few questions
Creative team wants to know
if the objectives of the 1st
campaign can be
communicated little more
clearly
Step 2:
Session
Step 2:
Session
Step 3:
Liaise
Step 3:
Liaise
1 member from
accounts/biz team
will join for the 4 pm
session
2 members from
strategy/social will join for
the 4 pm session
2 members from Creatives
will join the 4 pm session. 1
member will get briefed by
them later in the evening

25. ““Preempt the storms”Preempt the storms”
4.Prep-work for a briefing4.Prep-work for a briefing

26. So how do we
scope the requirement

27. BUSINESS PLAN
where is the client’s business headed?
ENTERPRISE PLAN
who really are we in business with? the stakeholders, the managers,
the partners, the local agency? how are they?
BRAND PLAN
what is the brand about? globally vs. locally.
ACCOUNT PLAN
what’s on our roadmap with them?
COMMS PLAN
what have they been saying/doing? what are
they going to say/do?
CONNS PLAN
what touchpoints (across media) are essential
for the brand to activate?

28. Why?
Can you
answer
these in a
session
with
enough
reasoning
behind
each
aspect?
CREATIVE
BRIEFING
What?
Who?
Where?
When?
The brand
exists
because..
Build a
campaign
that...
Targets are
the late-
boomer..
At an event
sponsored
by the
brand..
Last week of
Dec when
people are…

29. Creative Brief
Supplementary
Research

30. Team Exercise: Do a requirement scoping
Case #2: Take an
existing client and
fill in slide 27 and
28.

31. ““Don’t write, draw”Don’t write, draw”
5.Framing a creative brief5.Framing a creative brief

32. Picking up a template has never been a task.Picking up a template has never been a task.
Just image search “creative brief”Just image search “creative brief”

33. Creative Brief
Sample brief #1
*Source: The Planning Lab

34. Creative Brief
Sample brief #2
*Source: The Planning Lab

35. Creative Brief
Sample brief #3
*Source: The Planning Lab

36. Creative Brief
Sample brief #4
*Source: The Planning Lab

37. Creative Brief
Sample brief #5
*Source: The Planning Lab

38. Creative Brief
Sample brief #6
*Source: Wundermann

39. Creative Brief
Sample brief #7
*Source: RNSP

40. Creative Brief
Sample brief #8
*Source: Unknown

41. Creative Brief
Sample brief #9
*Source: Hyper Island

42. Some tips to writing briefs
✓let the thought device the platform – make up your own brief every
time
✓build an aura with your storytelling - communicate it well
✓use simple, jargon-less statements
✓write interpretations, not facts
✓use the brief as a tool for the sessions, not the other way round

43. The not-to-dos
✓all-inclusive statements
✓repetitive remarks
✓pointless information
✓too smart, know-it-alls
✓Prescriptions, e.g. please do this and that

44. 12 essential
questions to
answer in a brief

45. 1/12
Try to answer
what’s the true
purpose of the
entity you are
working for.
What’s the
product/servic
e/brand?
Creative Brief

46. 2/12
Irrespective of
what stage it’s in or
what the brand
manager says, we
have to identify a
problem. There
always is one.
What’s the
problem/
challenge?
Creative Brief

47. 3/12
Not every
challenge a brand
faces is a comms
challenge. We
have to know if it is
though.
What should
be the role of
comms in this?
Creative Brief

48. 4/12
Who are we talking
to or who are we
trying to engage
with?Who’s the
customer, the
audience, the
community?
Creative Brief

49. 5/12
Do we know
everything about
our category,
medium, platforms
and what
reception our
brand should
expect there?
What’s the
landscape,
scene, setup?
Creative Brief

50. 6/12
How is the brand
perceived right
now?
What’s the
current belief?
Creative Brief

51. 7/12
What should be
the desired
response as a
result of our work?What’s the
changed
belief?
Creative Brief

52. 8/12
Of the thousand
things we know,
what really make a
difference for us?What’s our
insight?
Creative Brief

53. 9/12
Look at our “has-
beens” and see if
there’s a thing that
we are changing
radically here
Are we
bringing a
change in
convention?
Creative Brief

54. 10/12
If we flip the insight
to arrive at
something big and it
seems like we
turned a new leaf
with it, what is it?
What can be
our catalytic
idea?
Creative Brief

55. 11/12
The new shiny, jewel
of a thought that we
have conceived
glows brightest
under what
circumstances?
What’s the
right context?
Creative Brief

56. 12/12
Riding on the new
idea we have
came up with,
imagine what
would the case
study videos and
headlines say
about it.
What’s our
news story
from the
future?
Creative Brief

57. Team Exercise: Create your template
Case #3: Come
up with your
own.

58. ““there’s an underlying thought”there’s an underlying thought”
6.The bigger picture6.The bigger picture

59. How can we ever know if our
layered thoughts on a piece of
paper can actually incite
convention-changing ideas?

60. Customers
okay with
your brand
Customers
really liking
your brand
An intervention

61. Define
“now’
Define
“could be”

62. Even as someone taking a technical brief, you have to ask the strategic question.Even as someone taking a technical brief, you have to ask the strategic question.
What’s between “Now” and “Could be”?What’s between “Now” and “Could be”?
Even as someone taking a technical brief, you have to ask the strategic question.Even as someone taking a technical brief, you have to ask the strategic question.
What’s between “Now” and “Could be”?What’s between “Now” and “Could be”?
What does the digital environment currently look like?
What is our current digital footprint within the larger
digital environment?
How is this footprint connecting with your brand by
market?
How are each of our digital assets currently being used?
How are we using digital to connect with our various
audiences?
Where are we weak and where are we strong on the
digital front?
Within our markets, what is the role of digital in general? Developing?
Launch?
Against our audience what is the digital experience we want to create?
What is the tone of voice that we will use?
Against our business segments what should be the role of digital in
marketing, corporate communications and other biz functions?
What are the gaps between where we are and where we need to be? From
a creative development perspective? From a technical perspective?
What are the short term opportunities? What are the longer term
opportunities?
What are the metrics/monitors that need to be in place to ensure we are
meeting our goals?
NOW COULD
BE
Sam
ple
brief

63. believe.in.utopia.
*Source: Planning toolkit by Clique

64. ✓Follow the process
✓Scope the requirements
✓Know what’s what
✓Communicate efficiently
✓Don’t get tangled up in data
✓Be mindful of the bigger picture
✓Be objective.

65. Team Exercise: Divide into teams of three
and then let one team brief the other
Next session:
Case
presentation

66. Did it inspire?
Yes/No
Did it direct?
Yes/No
LASTLY, RATE EVERY BRIEFING SESSIONS .
WITH TWO SIMPLE PARAMETERS.

67. Thanks for attending.

68. To get this session presented in your agency or
to your brand team, drop a line to @kunaldgp