Writing Great Briefs

WRITING GREAT BRIEFSPANA Brand Camp29 March 2012

As a planner, I

readwrite

and rewrite a lot of briefs

Writing a brief is

filling up a formnot simply about

It is the first stepin the creative process.

creative task.Writing a brief is a

repeatedly producebrilliant creative performance?

What factors allow top creatives to

IDEA-FOCUSED COMPANY VISION(prioritizes great ideas and allows a creative work culture)


CLIENTS WHO ENCOURAGE GREAT IDEAS (and are not just open to them)



SURPRISING/INSPIRING INFORMATION(deeper insights about the product, target, competition or brand)



A FASCINATING CLIENT BRIEF(defines the problem in a way that is inspiring and exciting)




A FASCINATING CLIENT BRIEF(defines the problem in a way that is inspiring and exciting)


AN INSPIRING CREATIVE BRIEF(has a single-minded proposition that is focused and exciting)

3 out of 5have to do with the quality of the brief

Write it in a way that inspires the best solutions

The author of the briefis the

owner of the problem

Great solutions require

great problems

“Please paint the ceiling.”


“Please paint the ceiling using red, green and yellow paint.”


“Please paint the ceiling using red, green and yellow paint.”

“Please paint biblical scenes on the ceiling using some or all of the following: God, Adam, angels, cupids, devils and saints.”

“Please paint our ceiling for the greater glory of God and as an inspiration and lesson to his people.”

Give the agency the problem you

want to solve, not the solution you want

A brief typically contains:MARKET AND BRAND SITUATIONTHE PROBLEMOBJECTIVETARGET AUDIENCEWHAT WE WILL COMMUNICATEREASONS TO BELIEVECHANNELSBRAND ESSENCE AND PERSONALITYEXECUTIONAL MANDATORIES

MARKET AND BRAND SITUATIONThis is the background to the brief

Context is everythingIt puts color and meaning into what the campaign must achieve

Are there category issues affecting the brand? Unilab vs. genericsAre there external factors threatening the brand? e.g. Coke and the economic crisis

Are there internal factors that pose a challenge? e.g. a price increaseAre there new trends that are repositioning you? e.g. herbal medications

The background to the brief should be written

to set up the problem that the campaign needs to solve.

THE PROBLEMArguably the most important part of the brief

There are different levels of problem

Business

Marketing

Brand

Communication

Channels

Creative

Eg. Profit margin is too low to sustain share price

Eg. Price premium unsustainable

Eg. User imagery is wrong

Eg. No awareness of the product range

Eg. Can’t afford TV

Eg. People don’t understand the advertising

Diagnosing the right problem is essential

How you define the problemdefines the solution

BackgroundPizza Hut wants to grow its non-pizza business because this helps attract people to dine in more frequently (which will help grow revenue)

To do this, it will launch a pasta line called Pasta Perfetto

The pasta line was launched (and failed) twice in the past 2 years

The Problem as stated in the original brief:

How can we excite people about the new and improved Pasta Perfetto line?

Key competitor is a specialist pasta chain called Pastamania!

SkepticismThe Real Problem

Singaporeans refuse to believe that Pizza Hut can make good pasta because the brand name suggests it’s good at pizza, not pasta



How do we prove to skeptics that good pasta can actually come from a place like Pizza Hut?



How do we prove to skeptics that good pasta can actually come from a place like Pizza Hut?

The Solution

Remove the brand name from the picture, and let

the product speak for itself

Tips in writing a great problem

Describe the problem in three sentences or less

If possible, reduce the problem to a challenging question

State the problem, don’t prescribe the solution

Market research is useful for problem definition

Be excited by the problem

It is a universal misconceptionthat a wide, unspecific briefing is better because it does not limit

creative people

THE OBJECTIVE

Many briefs start with

a poorly stated objective

“Generic objectives”(not wrong but not specific enough either)

To create awarenessTo increase sales and/or increase market share

To steal share from the competitionTo grab share from Brand X

To encourage switching To generate trial

To increase brand loyaltyTo strengthen emotional affinity

To increase consumption frequencyTo recruit new users

Metrics are not necessarily the same as campaign objectives

Campaign objectives are more actionable if they are stated in terms of

Attitudinal change?Behavioral change?Perception change?

how we want the target to respond

orGOODobjective?

BADobjective?

Explain BPI’s new housing loan product to first-time home

buyers

Get moms to cook dishes using Nestle Cream at least once a

week

Remind teens that Coca-Cola is about happiness

Encourage more frequent break time consumption

of KitKat

Convince office workers who endure headaches to take Biogesic at the onset

of a headache

A useful way of expressing objectives

(it also makes it easier to judge if the creative work meets the brief)

FROM TO

FROMFamous for cakes

TOFamous for cakes

and pastries

FROMFor celebrating my child’s 1st and 7th

birthdays only

TOFor celebrating my

child’s birthday every year

FROMThe drink for special meals with the family

TOThe drink that goes

well with everyday food

TARGET AUDIENCE

People, not statistics

“Classically bad”Males and Females 18-34 y.o., ABC socio-economic classCD moms in Metro ManilaOffice workers 21-45Devoted mothers who want to give their kids the best

A good target audience description

Demographic description (important but not defining)

Relevant psychographic profile: Habits, attitudes, desires, fears, aspirations, motivations

The target in relation to your brand or category

Skelan

Arthritis stricken life enthusiasts.

They are 50+ adults from the CD SEC. While they acknowledge pain, anxiety and incapacity are part of the arthritis

experience, they remain positive and optimistic.

In fact they want to continue being able to fully participate in life. They’re not ready to stay home and do nothing.

WHAT WE WILL COMMUNICATE

There are different ways to state what we want the campaign to communicate

A benefit; rational or emotional

A product feature, characteristic or attribute

A feeling

A brand belief or philosophy

A mission or advocacy

Tips in writing what to communicate

Make it clear and concise; If you can’t say it in a sentence, you

can’t say it in 30 seconds or less

Has to be true so that it connects with people

Ideally, differentiated from others in the category

REASONS TO BELIEVE

This should support what is being communicated

Not a list of product features that are irrelevant to what is being communicated but you want to see in the advertising

Do not underestimate the power of the product to inspire Creative Ideas.

Provide technical information; Interrogate the product until it confesses.Examine the product with the eyes of the target audience

Look at the history of the product and the brand Look for a personal truth in the product

CHANNELS

Best to not be prescriptive about specific touchpoints to use unless it is a given

Better if you can provide information on how the target audience engages with different channels

BRAND ESSENCE AND PERSONALITY

How a brand behaves it just as important as what it says

Keeping the brand essence and personality in mind helps ensure consistency, from campaign to campaign

EXECUTIONAL MANDATORIES

Avoid this if you can.

Stick only to the real non-negotiables, not a laundry list of things that you will look for in the execution.

IN CLOSING

TO WRITE GREAT BRIEFS

DODefine clearly the problem to

be solved

Put in surprising or interesting information - about the problem, the

brand, the target or channels

Be concise; It’s called a brief for a reason

DON’TSet an objective that the campaign cannot solve

Be prescriptive more than inspiring

Overload it with information

The brief is a starting pointAllow room for conversation, for debate

Demand courageous ideas, instead of correct ones

Don’t fix a mediocre idea. It’s better to start with a new one.

Let’s start problem solving.

@manilapaper

Writing Great Briefs

Business

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