Have you ever had a conversation where everything just clicks?
It’s one of the most gratifying feelings we can have as human beings. The synthesis of thoughts, emotions and ideas from person to person. When we connect with people in this manner, the conversation flows and the understanding is almost instantaneous. One of the foremost thinkers on modern neurology, Uri Hasson, likens it to the physical act of dancing, where each person is moving according to the other, in one fluid motion. Hasson simply states that communication is a “single act performed by two brains.”
One area where this idea of connected thought can be extended is the creative brief. It’s the single most important document for any creative team. By creating a strong connection with the reader, you will lead the creative dance and ensure your projects are always on the right foot. It’s the main source of information that will be used over and over by a creative team to tap into the wants and needs of their client. The verbal creative conversation is one that will start early and evolve over time. It’s the brief that makes everything click.
The creative catalyst
The moment when the brief arrives is the catalyst for every project. It’s the point from where a creative team can really begin to form their initial ideas about how the final project will look. That’s why the brief is the most important document you can give us. Whether you’re a client looking to outsource a project or an account manager who’s talking to an internal team, you’ll need to create a document that is clear and focussed. It’s tempting to put everything in, from the well researched metrics to the fact-filled 20 page pamphlet on the subject of your ad. This level of info is great but it should support the brief rather than fill it up.
The brief needs to be packed with all the vital information to clearly communicate exactly what you want and need for your project. What is the most vital info for a creative brief? First and foremost, you need to tell the creative team exactly who you are. Even if they know the brand inside out, it’s still an area that needs to be reinforced and evolved over time. It’s this repeat and rinse attitude that will reinforce the jumping off point every time a project begins.
Start by outlining the core values of your brand, what it stands for and why it exists. This is a clear cut brand statement that will set the parameters of every bit of work that you commission. It’s your brand beacon that will lead the creative journey for your team to create work that you can believe in.
“To refresh the world. To inspire moments of optimism and happiness. To create value and make a difference.”
Coca-Cola mission statement
It’s also important to remember that a brief can come in any shape or size. There is a common misconception that it has to fit a ‘catch all’ template to satisfy the end result.
We’ve been given briefs that range from those written on the back of a napkin taken over a coffee to a detailed multi-page document sent over on an email. Of course, you should always include the essential details that help things run as smoothly as possible such as your deadline, budget, stakeholders and deliverables of the project. But how you outline the challenges, objectives and style of your brief can be as original as you need it to be.
Absorb, understand and translate
Once the finalised brief has arrived, it will then be up to the creative team to take the information and turn it into something tangible. The brief will set off a chain of creative events that will produce a series of ideation documents such as the treatment, script or the fully loaded audio visual presentation.
The conversation with the client is ongoing but the brief signals the beginning of the action. With the black and white of the project in our hands, it is now time to transform these words into effective motion content. We absorb not just the details of the document but the brand vision and company ethos. It’s a research period that needs to be a free exploration of ideas but also intensely focussed on the subject matter.
It’s essential to keep the brief at the top of the creative conversation without letting it stifle your approach. The brief is a place to file the black and white of the project but there should always be an ongoing conversation from person to person. Key info can often fall through the cracks when there isn't free flowing communication. Keeping a regular interaction with regular catch up meetings or casual phone updates can go a long way to keeping a project on track.
Using the key objectives and messaging of the brief as a jumping off point will make sure your ideas are on the right path. Business ‘thinker’ Peter Drucker said, “The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn’t said.” It’s this idea of reading between the lines and hearing the unsaid that informs our translation of the brief. While we constantly aim to meet all the objectives and aims of the project, we also seek to create something original and unexpected. It’s a matter of pride that we give each piece of work everything we have and more.
“Of all of our inventions for mass communication, pictures still speak the most universally understood language.”