Keep it brief

I’m not so bothered whether a brief is written down or not.  Ideally it is but I can work without a bit of paper in my hand as long as an effective conversation has been had. That is, a conversation that exactly sums up what it is we’re trying to achieve.

As far as I’m concerned a good creative brief takes 5 minutes to present and 3 minutes to read, because it is the thought through, distilled version of the knotty problem; a succinctly expressed springboard for creative thinking.

A good creative brief is not a rambling discussion that touches on everything there is to know about the client, or the ins and outs of every communication the client has produced in the past. A good creative brief is a juggernaut piece of thinking that strikes at the core of the challenge and gets creative minds whirring on how to solve it.

If every briefing meeting I went to was a juggernaut, I’d jump for joy. No more regurgitation of someone’s background reading or the numerous conversations they’ve had with the client. No more endless consideration of the competition or trends and best practices going on out there. No.

What I’m after – on top of and as a culmination of all that – is just a brilliant, brief, creative brief. It’s what people should expect from me too.