On Briefs

Briefs make or break assignments. Seriously. They are that important.

But a lot of times it feels like writing the brief is an afterthought. The one thing is actually ten things. The strategy doesn't exist. The creatives have no insight to work off of. I think a lot of times we aren't sure what is helpful to include in the brief. So instead of leaving out something that may somehow possibly spark something, we include it. And we end up with a three page brief full of useless information. So how do we make briefs better?

Keep them short and to the point. And frame them around the problem the client needs solved.

Here are a couple strategies I've come across on a brief lately:

"Stop guessing and give that special person something he or she will REALLY want - a gift card."

"________ is pleased to introduce ________ as the newest member of our family of products. ________ is another solution to make your mealtime quick and easy. It utilizes ________ technology which allows customers to have a delicious, fully-cooked meal in four minutes. No need to boil water, no fuss and no clean up."

Neither of these help frame a problem that needs to be solved for the client.

In middle school and high school I participated in a program called Future Problem Solvers*. It was an international competition** around solving real world problems. There were six steps in the problem solving process. I sometimes find myself using these same steps when I'm trying to tackle an assignment.

Step 1: Identify Challenges Analyze the situation and identify the challenges. With advertising, this step comes from listening and working with the client. What problems are they facing that need to be solved? Do they need to push a certain product? Improve their customer service? Do damage control? Promote good will?

Step 2: Select an Underlying Problem Select the most important challenge to solve. Out of all the clients ideas or concerns, what is the one most important issue that the agency can help them tackle at this time?

Step 3: Produce Solution Ideas Produce solutions that will solve the underlying problem. Come up with solutions for the client. It might be a TV campaign. It might be cause branding. Maybe it's a microsite. Or maybe it's simply sitting down with them and redefining their company's goals.

Step 4: Generate and Select Criteria Generate criteria and that evaluate the potential or merit of the different solutions.

Step 5: Apply criteria Use the criteria to evaluate the most promising solutions. How will we measure our solutions? How well do the solutions we're providing answer the concerns of the client?

Step 6: Develop an Action Plan Improve upon the best solution and describe the actions necessary for the implementation of the solution. How do we execute our solutions?

The brief is steps 1 and 2. The brief needs to state what the problem is in the most distinct way possible. In the competition we had to phrase our underlying problems with "In what ways might we" or "How might we" to keep it open ended and simple.

So for the gift card example above it might be "How might we promote our company's gift cards?" With the new product example, it might be "In what ways might we show customers how quick and easy using ________ makes mealtime?"

Phrasing the challenge in this manner allows all the departments within the agency to tackle the problem through their area of expertise. Media might have a unique take on the most effective places to reach people looking for convenience at mealtime. PR might have ideas on garnering support through the media partnerships focused on quick and easy meals. Creative might not be limited to print and TV but focus their efforts to placements in grocery stores and outside fast food places.

The point is to keep the brief simple and relevant. Don't bog it down with unnecessary information. Provide customer and client insight and provide the problem we need to tackle. Then let's figure out how to solve that problem.




*Ms. Fite would be so proud that I remember all this.
**I got 6th place internationally, in case you're interested.