5 ingredients for a great creative brief
It’s the bane of most marketers, but generating an inspiring creative brief doesn’t need to be a painful or time-consuming process. Sure, agencies love information, but less can be more if it’s the right information. In addition to the basics like identifying your target audience and overall budget, these are the 5 things we look for:
1 • Background/objective
It seems simple, but oftentimes marketers don’t have a compelling “why” driving the campaign. Are sales declining? Is a competitor gaining ground? Is there a compelling market opportunity you’ve uncovered? The more we understand why we’re developing the campaign and what we’re trying to achieve, the better our work will be.
2 • Singular key message
This may be the most challenging of all, but the most effective creative comes down to communicating one message — and doing it really well. Think about it this way, if you had only five seconds to explain your product to a prospective customer, what would you say? The message can also drive the medium, so it’s best if the tactics aren’t predetermined prior to the briefing.
3 • Message hierarchy
Outside of a digital banner ad, there’s usually space for supporting messages. Understanding the priority of those messages helps us craft the most effective copy.
4 • Creative mandatories
If you need 12 brand logos, 6 ingredient decks and 4 nutritional labels, we can make it happen! It will just be a lot less painful for both of us if we can plan for it up front (and that holds true even if it’s just one of each).
5 • Desired outcome
What do you want the creative to do? Build awareness, drive click-through, encourage trial or all of the above? By beginning with the end in mind, we can develop creative solutions that are much more effective. For example, if we know the entire goal of a campaign is to generate trial, that will shape everything — from the message to the medium.
ONE FINAL TIP • Some of our most effective briefing sessions have been a collaborative effort with our clients, so don’t think you need to go it alone. Just contact anita@infoodmktg.com and we’d be happy to help.