how to write a creative brief
DESCRIPTION
These are the slides from a workshop I delivered for the CIPR Scotland. It was a PR professionals workshop, meant to give them the skills to take a proper creative brief in order to, in turn, brief a designer to produce the creatives.TRANSCRIPT
WRITING A CREATIVE BRIEF
‘HOW TO HELP YOUR CLIENTS SPEAK CLEARLY’
CIPR ‘FRESH’ SERIES WORKSHOP - 30.4.13
WHY DO YOU HAVE TO KNOW HOW TO WRITE A
BRIEF?
WHAT IS A BRAND?
A BRAND IS NOT...
A BRAND IS...
• Integrity
• Knowledge
• Expertise
• Reliability
• Low cost
...how people feel about your company. Its a set of values that a company wants to attach itself to, e.g...
You’re asking for an emotional investment from your clients so in that respect, a brand is much more akin to a reputation because if you don’t engage them on some emotional level, you probably won’t get them as a client.
“YOUR BRAND IS WHAT PEOPLE SAY ABOUT YOU WHEN YOU’RE NOT IN THE ROOM”
JEFF BEZOS, CEO, AMAZON
WHY A GOOD BRIEF IS ESSENTIAL
WHY A GOOD BRIEF IS ESSENTIAL
• Knowledge - Clients will always know the most about their business so their insight will form the cornerstone of your brief.
• Reputation - You’re responsible for your clients brand so a good brief is essential to maintain their reputation. In doing so, you’re enhancing your own reputation with them,
• Speed - Ensures the project can move along with minimal hold ups.
• Education - Leading your client through this in a structured manner can be an eye opener and demonstrate your added value to them.
• Protection - A tight brief that everyone adheres to is your protection against those clients that always try and get something for nothing.
WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU DON’T TAKE A PROPER
BRIEF?
TAKING THE BRIEF
...DON’T DO THIS!
THE BRIEFING PROCESS
THE BRIEFING PROCESS
• Record everything - No matter how trivial you think it might be.
• How long should it be? - No more than 3 pages at most
• T.E.D. - Use Tell, Explain And Describe questions to get the best information.
• Be bold! - Don’t be afraid to ask difficult questions in order to find out the pertinent information.
• Progress through it in a specific order - By keeping a tight structure, you make sure nothing gets missed.
• Questions should be needs based - Always focus on discovering your clients needs as the project they are briefing you on needs to have some an end result.
WRITING THE BRIEF
SECTIONS
• Overview
• Inspiration
• Background
At Brightspace, we look at three main areas...
OVERVIEW
• Full contact details - You MUST get all of these.
• Set project milestones - This ensures everyone involved knows when specific milestones need to be hit, keeping the project on time.
• Project description - Get the client to tell you, in their own words, exactly what they want you to do for them.
• Measuring effectiveness - What will success look like to your client?
• Deliverables - What are the specific elements that are to be designed, e.g. website, brochure etc.?
• Resources available - Do they have any existing images, copy already written etc. that you can utilise.
INSPIRATION
• Brand voice - What values and tone of voice do you need to communicate?
• The client / service - Get the client to tell you, in their own words, about their service / product, more about their company etc.
• The project goals - What, specifically, do they want you to achieve?
• The audience - Your client SHOULD know about their audience and be able to tell you all. If they don’t, you might have to look at getting some market research done.
MORE INSPIRATION
• How do you want the viewer to feel? - Moved? motivated? scared? warm and fuzzy?
• What do we want them to do as a result of this? - What action do you want them take? Be mindful of all the calls to action.
• Messages to communicate - Is there a single message thats more important to communicate than any other?
• Secondary messages? - Are there any? What are they?
BACKGROUND
• Is this project part of a bigger marketing campaign? - What other marketing activities are they engaged in? What stage are they at with other activities.
• If yes, how does it fit in with the other activities? - Asking this can open dialogue that allows you to sell other services to your client.
• Current website and any social media links for reference
• Client / Competitors websites / social media links - Who are their competitors? Get the client to tell you about them in their own words.
• Budget - Hopefully the client has a budget in mind. They possibly won’t but try and get a figure from them though as this is about managing expectations (what they want) against reality (what they can afford).
ADDITIONAL INFO
• Do they have corporate guidelines? - Its important to know as your designer doesn’t want to get halfway through the project to find out they have to start again because there are existing guidelines to follow.
• Are there any technical specs? - Same as above, there may be specific technical guidelines they have that need followed.
WHAT NOW?
WHAT NOW?
• Type up the brief carefully
• The client MUST sign and date it! - Remember, this is the clients acceptance of YOUR brief and before the project proceeds, they MUST sign it off.
• Give it to your designer to produce some amazing work! - Goes without saying!
• Follow it religiously - The signed and agreed brief should provide a number of touchpoints throughout the project that everyone should be aware of and adhere to.
WANT TO KNOW MORE...
WANT TO KNOW MORE?
• Seth Godin - www.sethgodin.com
• Win Without Pitching - www.winwithoutpitching.com
Websites
Books
• Design is a Job - Mike Monteiro
• How to Write an Inspired Creative Brief - Howard Ibach
• Six Thinking Hats - Edward de Bono
THANK YOU!